Julius

UEFA have just revealed the Team of the Tournament: Only real fault with it I can see is Walker at RB – over the likes of Kounde, Carvajal and Dumfries? Go home UEFA, you're drunk reckon the most deserving English player, if one had to be shoehorned in, would be Guéhi. He was a beast and slotted in pretty much perfectly at the last minute.

Reminder that Mbappé's presentation at Madrid is taking place today! He'll be their new number 9, I assume waiting until Modric leaves to take the 10. It's on now: Right then, see you all in 10 years when anyone else starts to get a chance at the UCL again

Good. It's the right time, he's caught a lot of heat these last few weeks - rightly so - and he can step down with dignity and his head held high for what he's achieved. He's now a legend in terms of England managers for taking us back to the top, regardless of how the draws have fallen in our favour, you can only beat what's in front of you. Very grateful for how far he's taken us in these tournaments, he's completely changed the mentality of these players, they seem to be a unit more than any other England team I've seen in my lifetime. The talent pool is there, it hasn't been used to its best, we had POTS from 2 of the 5 major leagues in our team (Foden - Prem, Bellingham - La Liga) and the top scorer in Bundesliga and just...didn't really get to see them at their best. This could be a watershed moment for English football, but more importantly than Southgate stepping down now is deciding who comes next. With the mentality changed and the talent assembled, I'm getting shades of Mourinho at Real – he laid the groundwork which has resulted in so much of the success they've had in the UCL after going without a win when chasing La Decima for over a decade. So, who do we get then? Shouts of Potter make me laugh, yes he was thrown in the deep end at Chelsea but he couldn't find his footing there after his first big move as a manager, and if the argument is coming in to manage youngsters...this squad seems far too mature for that to be the main reason to sign a manager. Howe is a better shout, but I genuinely don't think there's an English manager around at the level for me where it would give me confidence that they can go into a tournament and come away with a trophy over their head. Tuchel is my shout. He's a knockout trophy-winning specialist, biggest argument against it maybe is how England and Germany would view England having a German manager, but Tuchel comes to loggerheads with the German media and club structures over there again and again, and he seemed to love his time over here – English media included. I'd say that he's perhaps too early in his career to take on managing an international side, but Nagelsmann is doing it in his 30s, so why not? Tuchel is available and it would be a waste to not even try to hold the conversation. Mourinho would have been my first choice, but obviously he's only recently gone to Fenerbahçe and seems destined to ignite a civil war in Turkey, I also think he's just waiting Ronaldo out before he tries to get the Portugal job. But he loves England and I think it's probably the nation he'd want to manage most after his own (and after us probably Italy?), so yeah, he would've been my first shout. With both Mourinho and Tuchel, their biggest issues with clubs almost always comes down to difference in opinion over transfer policies – which is obviously a non-factor in international management. In reality? Watch us get a bigger football terrorist than Southgate – Allegri incoming! (but seriously please no )

Hot off the heels of Spain dazzling in Berlin and a Spaniard in the form of Alcaraz lighting up Wimbledon, it's time to set our sights on the next major sporting event in the calendar: the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris! The BBC have a pretty handy breakdown here on what's in store, and also handily point out that while the Opening Ceremony on the Seine doesn't take place until the 26th, the action actually begins on the 24th as ever with some of the earlier rounds of certain sports like the football, rugby sevens, handball and archery. So, does anyone else plan to tune in? Any particular events you love to check out, or any of the new events tickling your fancy? Any particular Olympics memories you have to share? Tokyo was a weird one for me a few years ago, especially with it being so sealed off due to COVID restrictions at the time, I didn't feel much enthused by it outside of the opening ceremony and the occasional clip of anime music being blasted in the background. Think I'm much more in the mood for it this year, though. I've always loved to watch the swimming, the track & field events are always a blast, but I think I'd like to check out more of the gymnastics and lifting this time around, as I always seem to miss out on those events! Of the newer stuff, think I'll be looking out for the 3v3 basketball because I'm curious to see how it shakes out, as well as sport climbing, which definitely made some waves last time out!

Well, with the curtains now closed on the Euros, I figured it's finally time to get the ball rolling on the thread for the next season. And what a weird one it is lining up to be. Major Champions League changes. Semi-automated VAR coming to the Prem...but not for a few months, at least that was the plan before the Euros – maybe there's a chance it gets bumped up? And next summer there's the inaugural expanded FIFA Club World Cup to round it all off, too. Should be a wild ride, as ever

Obligatory: For tonight, in reality I think he missed the final match of the Bundesliga due to a recurring back injury, wouldn't shock me at all if we learn in the next few days that he's been carrying it all tournament. In which case he arguably shouldn't have played as much as he did over the last month, of course. I just don't think most classic #9's can bode well in finals these days. Kane was isolated in 2v1's all night long at best, at worst he had 3 or more players surrounding him – because marking a #9 is like the most textbook thing every defender first learns to do. We haven't got the pace on the wings or crossing ability that he has supporting him at Bayern, and he likes to drop deep when we don't have those runners or anyone to replace him up top when he does it, which causes all sorts of issues. Said it earlier in the tournament but we should've gone for a 4-2-2-2 with Kane and Watkins/Toney up top to help split the opposition defence and give us a chance at winning the knock-downs Pickford was clearly aiming to get out of Kane.

That stat we just heard is insane Since the turn of the century Spain and Spanish have clubs have faced countries/clubs from other countries 23 times in major finals and won EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. That's freaking insane

Just a reminder that Kane now gets a Golden Boot which will be shared with 5 others after both he and Olmo failed to score lmao

Agreed – in knockout football, especially. League stuff is a whole other beast, where a draw still counts for something. I don't mind a low block. I don't mind passing it around. I don't mind setting up so long as you're trying to get a result. But it needs to be purposeful and it needs to be done with some motivation. Look at how quickly Spain were passing it around in the 70th, 80th minute and their intensity. And look at us -- when they started the counter for that second it was only Palmer remotely close to the ball, and there were acres of space in the middle for Spain to drive into. Sucks for England to lose but I'm really happy to see Spain back at the top. Rio sounds like he's getting carried away, as ever, by making it sound like this is the start of a dynasty for them, because I think they're still missing a key piece or two for that to happen. That being said -- they just won in that second half fair and square without Rodri on the pitch, shades of when Puyol and Villa were injured and unable to play in Euro 2012. Agreed. Southgate has done a great job with the results he's got, he's now a legend in terms of England managers, but there now needs to be a step up if we're to win something with these players. It's time to go get a proper tournament manager in.

Not saying we would've scored but the ball was played for 90 seconds at absolute best of those 4 minutes of stoppage time, shocking from the ref to blow Spain the best team of the tournament and deservedly won this match and the whole thing. Kudos to them, some lovely play. We're knocking at the door. Let's see who's in charge in 2026 and take it from there.

oh get lost with that goal line clearance Olmo

oh dear

These Spain 1-2s and the pace of them are PTSD-inducing

Palmer on for Mainoo was absolutely the change to make. Mainoo has had a great tournament but went missing or just wasn't making the right challenges in the first half, shows a lot of attacking intent from Gareth too. Something we don't see too often, because it's not at all like-for-like. Anyways, momentum swings our way for a change. Let's see how this pans out.

Let's go

It's night and day compared to the first half, though, when there were arguably too many players filling up the middle of the pitch. At times it's like they've forgotten where their position is and where they've been winning duels -- like @Eddage said, Saka seems pretty disinterested in coming back and doing defending all of a sudden. It's all very odd

Seeing the ball come into Bellingham and being surrounded by four red shirts then him somehow getting the turn and shot away this is why we need to make sure we've got people available in the middle - why was he the only one?

Shocked to see Kane come off with 30 to go, purely because he's the captain, but had to be done. We've vacated the middle of the pitch for some reason during some of our attacks. Very odd.

We've come out here completely turned off. We're handing the ball back to Spain nonstop and then seem surprised that it's coming right back at us.

Where the hell is our defence?! 4v5 at the back?!?!

Damn. Just torn us apart. First time Yamal wasn't closed down for the first time this match and immediately made something of it. Game should really open up now.

Zubimendi on for Rodri could be a massive blow for Spain and a massive invite for us to make something of this. Wonder what's happened there? Zubimendi is a quality player, mind you, so don't go counting your chickens quite yet.

As far as first halves in major international finals go, that was a perfectly fine one – we've seen way worse, scrappier, and more negative a lot of times before. Both teams look positive, wanting to move the ball forward when they get it, and, outside of a few spells of Spain playing keep-ball, it's been going from left to right and back again at a decent clip. Some really fun duels to watch so far. Carva taunting with a crying baby action probably the highlight for me, Carva v Bellingham, Walker v Williams, Shaw v Yamal...definitely the ones to keep an eye on. And speaking of Shaw, probably Man of the Half, right? He's shut everything down and created some decent opportunities. We also saw Stones handle Williams really well before putting a slide in, I thought he'd shown him maybe a bit too much space on the outside and he definitely needed to stretched, but it was really well handled. Spain have been doubling up on the right at times which gets me the most nervous, but they've seemed fairly contained otherwise, and the middle of the pitch is overloaded at the moment and so it's getting very scrappy, which hasn't really suited Mainoo so far – as the legs start to go and more space opens up in the middle, that'll be the place to look for more of the action and opportunities I think. Especially with the high press Spain have going on. It's 0-0, we're still in it, we've had chances and we'll undoubtedly get some more – but so will Spain. Great stretch at the end by Foden to get that shot on target. This scoreline at half-time is probably a best case scenario for England so far, because we can't defend a lead for anything, and I'd hate for us to be chasing. Let's hope for a couple of goals in this second half. Or, well, maybe just the one if it's from a white shirt Saka has been an interesting one. Every single time it's passed out to him it feels like a shotgun being reloaded. Wouldn't shock me if he unlocks this Spain defence down the right/their left.