England’s World Cup exit at the hands of France may just be one of the most frustrating of all of their recent heartache in major international tournaments.
The Three Lions made it to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and didn’t quite perform at their best as an underrated Croatia side made it through, while they were again just not quite good enough as they lost to Italy on penalties in the final of Euro 2020 last year.
Against France, however, the holders of the World Cup and one of the pre-tournament favourites, England gave a really good account of themselves in a positive display that showed they no longer fear the bigger nations.
In the end, they can look back at some poor officiating that massively favoured Les Bleus on the night.
First up, there’s this clear foul on Bukayo Saka in the build-up to a France goal…
It’s really not clear how the referee could have failed to spot this, and it proved a turning point in the game.
For some reason, there was also this complete lack of a response to another clear foul, this time on Harry Kane…
The players were visibly frustrated with the referee throughout the game, and it’s a real shame to exit a tournament in this manner.
Of course, England striker Kane should’ve done a lot better with his second penalty, but one has to wonder if it would have been quite as important a moment if the referee had otherwise been a bit more fair to both teams.