Beth Mead, Lionesses star, has responded to claims made on social media that Gareth Southgate is the first manager of England to lead his team to two major international championships.
Ollie Watkins’ dramatic 90th-minute goal for Southgate’s team propelled England to a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands on Wednesday night, securing their spot in the Euro 2024 championship.
For the first time in history, the Three Lions have advanced to consecutive European Championship finals and will now take against Spain on Sunday at 8 p.m.
Social media was flooded with tributes to Southgate following England’s victory on Wednesday night, with many of them highlighting his accomplishment of leading the national team to two major finals.
While Sarina Wiegman, the manager of the Lionesses, led her team to victory at Euro 2022 and then led them to the World Cup final the following year, where they were defeated by Spain, Southgate is the first manager to lead England to two finals in the men’s game.
Beth Mead hit back at claims that Gareth Southgate is the first England manager to reach two major finals
Mead, who finished as the joint-top scorer at Euro 2022 and was one of the Lionesses’ standout performers during the tournament, was clearly unhappy with Wiegman being overlooked in the posts about Southgate after England’s win on Wednesday night.
In her response to one post on X which claimed that Southgate ‘is the first England manager to reach two major international finals’, Mead replied: ‘Hmm, beg to differ’.
The tribute post from the social media account was subsequently deleted.
When asked about England’s win against the Dutch, Weigman, who was born and raised in the Netherlands, said at her press conference on Thursday: ‘Congratulations on the win.
‘To be really honest, of course I wish the very best for Gareth and the team but it did hurt. My orange heart hurt!’
“It was a great result for England and all of us girls were so excited and buzzing,” Lionesses forward Lauren Hemp said.
As we watched it together, everyone was giddy with excitement. It was naturally saved for the final few minutes, as England typically does, but that added to the excitement.
“We have two very important games coming up, and they have their game at the weekend. It would be nice for us to share that success together with them and get a couple of wins as well.”
In anticipation of their Euro 2025 qualifying matchup against the Republic of Ireland, the Lionesses are now finalizing their preparations.