LONDON: England captain Harry Kane has said the Euro Cup final loss will "hurt for the rest of our careers" but the side is on right track and hopefully they can go a step further next year.
Italy ended hosts England's dream to win the Euro 2020 here at the Wembley Stadium on Sunday (local time). Azzurri defeated England 3-2 on penalties after the normal 90-minute action had finished at 1-1 and even extra time was not able to break the deadlock.
Kane said the players gave their all in the tournament and the England team should hold their heads high despite the loss in the final.
"I couldn't have given more. The boys couldn't have given more. Penalties is the worst feeling in the world when you lose," Kane told BBC One as reported by goal.com.
"It wasn't our night but it's been a fantastic tournament and we should hold our heads high. Of course it's going to hurt now. It's going to hurt for a while, but we're on the right track and we're building and hopefully we can progress from this next year," he added.
The England captain admitted that the Euro Cup final loss against Italy will "hurt for the rest of our careers" but the side should be "extremely proud" of how they performed in the tournament.
"We should be extremely proud as a group of what we have achieved. We're all winners and want to win so it will probably hurt for a while and it will hurt for the rest of our careers, but that's football," said Kane
"We progressed well from Russia and now it is about continuing that," he added.
Kane finished the Euro Cup with four goals and converted his spot-kick to open the penalty shootout. However, substitutes Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka --- three of England's youngest players --- failed to net a goal during the penalties.
"You've got to hold your heads high. It's been a fantastic tournament. Anyone can miss a penalty. We win together, we lose together," said Kane.
"We'll learn and grow from it. Those boys will grow from it and it will give us more motivation for the World Cup next year. We were playing against a very good side. We got off to the perfect start.
"Maybe dropped a little too deep sometimes. They had a lot of the ball. We looked fairly in control, they didn't create too many chances. Penalties is penalties. We went through a process. The boys did everything they could, it just wasn't our night," he added.
After England got off to a flying start, Leonardo Bonucci got the equaliser for Italy as he netted the ball into the goalpost in the 67th minute, bringing the scoreline level at 1-1.
No more goals were scored in the match, and hence the game had to progress to extra time. The extra time was also not able to separate the two teams, and hence the game progressed to the much-dreaded penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, Italy edged out England 3-2 and as a result, Italy won their second Euro title.