There's always a reason. Usually, it’s penalties.
Not during normal time, obviously. In past campaigns, it’s been meeting the wrong team at the wrong time.
Or, if England aren’t being embarrassed at tournaments - such as against Iceland in 2016 or at the World Cup in Brazil two years prior to that - you can thumb through their list of excuses for failure at the majors. That they’re tired, for instance.
Very rarely does the nation hold up its hands and admit that the moments of brilliance that were always likely to break this quarter-final tie wide open came from the opposition. Such was the case at the Al Bayt Stadium.
We can point to Harry Kane ’s missed late penalty. Or the performance of referee Wilton Sampaio - which was well below average. But the moments that mattered came from the side wearing royal blue. It was to be half-expected.
There was a reason why this last eight clash was rated at 50-50 or 60-40 in either team’s favour before kick-off. There were matchwinners all over the place. Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden for the Three Lions. Or Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele for Les Bleus.
This wasn’t a case of Lionel Messi plus ten others. That’s what filled the evening with intrigue. It was all about personal match-ups. Kyle Walker versus Mbappe. Kane up against Dayot Upamecano. Could Luke Shaw stop Dembele?
The quality of player on show was deep. Almost every major club in Europe was represented on the pitch at the Al Bayt Stadium. So, in one respect, this defeat carried no shame.
Was there any reasons to be reproachful? To wonder, what if? Well, yes there were. They came at the end of the 90 minutes when England’s players will be thinking once more about what might have been.
It was such a shame. Then again, it usually is. England’s players had performed like this was their date with destiny. Payback time.
For the trials and tribulations - the pain and downright agony that England’s players have suffered during the past four years - that it would be exorcised. That the hurt had somehow been transformed into an unstoppable force - and that, for once, the Three Lions would not be denied.
Even when they were struggling for a foothold last night. Even after the reigning world champions had taken the lead, there was a sense that this was the time.
This was the time when this group wouldn’t come of age exactly, but would harness the emotions of a defeat on their own soil to Italy. That they would use the experience of a World Cup semi-final loss to Croatia and make good the deficit.
These players didn’t owe the country anything. But they did owe it to each other. There was a reason why Gareth Southgate ditched his usual policy of picking players on form and rewarding loyalty. It was because of nights like these.
From Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane to Jordan Pickford. They’d all been around. They suffered together. And last night, they used those shared experiences to quite brilliant effect.
At half-time, there was every reason for this bunch to look at one another and start feeling sorry for themselves. It had taken a quite brilliant 30-yard strike from Aurelien Tchouameni to set them on their heels.
Brazilian ref Wilton Sampaio had favoured the French with his marginal calls. Repeated fouls on Saka and Phil Foden were going unpunished. But he redeemed himself when Saka was upended and Kane stepped up to level.
Then, oh then a delicious cross from Antoine Griezmann opened up England’s defence and OIivier Giroud did the rest. It could have been different. Of course, it could.
Kane could have taken it to additional time. He will shoulder the burden of that for the rest of his career. Add it to the list of excuses. Only last night, there really weren’t any. France won by small margins. And, at this level, that’s what it takes.
