Gareth Southgate feels a lack of self-belief led to their downfall in the quarterfinal against France

England boss Gareth Southgate believes a lack of self-belief led to their downfall in the quarterfinal against France in the FIFA World Cup. The Les Bleus won by 2-1 against the Three Lions to put themselves in the last four of the quadrennial event in Qatar.

Aurelien Tchouameni scored in the 17th minute for the Didier Deschamps’ team but Harry Kane put the game to parity as he scored from the spot in the 54th minute. However, Olivier Giroud scored for France to put his team in front.

Harry Kane then had another opportunity from the penalty to put the game in balance but the England skipper squandered the big chance.

“The performance against France has shown the players if they didn’t believe it before, which I still wonder whether they truly believed that before the game, but coming off the field they know that is a game they could win and should have won,” Southgate said in an interview with ITV.

On the other hand, Argentina went on to beat the Netherlands in the semifinal but their players were criticized for celebrating in the face of the Dutch players. The Argentine players also received criticism for their celebration after beating France in the final.

Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez received a lot of flak for a groin celebration after receiving the Golden Glove award. Legendary player Zlatan Ibrahimovic lashed out at the players for their over-the-top celebration.

“I’m not worried about [Messi]; I’m worried about the others in [the] Argentina [squad] because they will not win anything more. Messi has won everything and he will be remembered, but the rest who behaved badly, we can’t respect that,” Ibrahimovic said (via FourFourTwo).

“This is coming from me, speaking as a top professional player: that is a sign that you will win once, but you won’t win again. You don’t win like that.”