England manager, Gareth Southgate has said that his side lost the 2018 World Cup World Cup third-place match on Saturday because their opponent, Belgium, were too strong for them.
The Englishman said that Belgium were a better side, adding that the third-place playoff was a game too far for the Three Lions.
Belgium ran out as 2-0 winners at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg.
Thomas Meunier opened the scoring on the fourth minutes and Eden Hazard made sure of victory eight minutes from time.
“Belgium are a better side than us,” Southgate told reporters after the game.
“We had to play flat out. We had a day less to repair and recover. It was a game too far for us.
“Belgium are a top team and they will be thinking they should have gone further than they did. We caused them problems and pinned them back but they have players of the highest quality.
“Two years on, you look at the number of caps and age of squad for Belgium. This is their peak but we are nowhere near that and we knew that the whole way through.”
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