As Gareth Southgate boarded the flight from Doha on Sunday morning, he genuinely had no idea whether this was his last duty as England manager. He admitted in the immediate aftermath of the France defeat that he is “conflicted”. What was particularly striking was how he stated the boos at Molineux during the 4-0 defeat to Hungary earlier this year had got to him, and how he has found much of the last 18 months “difficult”.

Some who know Southgate now firmly believe he will go, that his “energy” for the job is at its limit.

It is why he doesn’t want to make any decision over the next few days. Southgate knows that would be a mistake, and potentially lead to a “wrong call”. He instead wants to come back with a clear mind, and talk things through fully and rationally with the FA.

Miguel Delaney attempts to answer the question on everyone’s lips:

Sampaio awarded England two penalties in their quarter-final exit in Qatar, but many observers believed that the Brazilian had missed numerous other incidents throughout the game at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor.

Bukayo Saka seemed to have been fouled in the lead-up to France’s first goal in their 2-1 win, while England captain Harry Kane also looked to have been fouled on the edge of the box shortly thereafter. Sampaio did not award a free kick in either instance.

Despite criticism of Sampaio’s performance, he has been kept on by Fifa for the remaining games in Qatar. It means the Brazilian is eligible to officiate Argentina’s semi-final against Croatia on Tuesday, France’s last-four clash with Morocco on Wednesday, Saturday’s third-place play-off match, and Sunday’s final.

The 52-year-old said he has found “large parts of the last 18 months difficult”, particularly noting criticism and the boos at Molineux during the 4-0 defeat by Hungary in June.

While Southgate said he has loved most of the last few weeks in Qatar, and doesn’t have any regrets given the nature of the performance against France, he revealed he still hasn’t gotten over the Euro 2020 final loss to Italy and wants to be certain that he has the “energy” for another campaign.

The England manager said he wouldn’t make any decision in the immediate future as he wants to do so with a clear head and not regret it either way, at which point he will sit down with the Football Association (FA) and talk it through.

Read exactly what Southgate had to say on his future as he ponders his position:

Former England international Joey Barton has called for Gareth Southgate to be sacked following the Three Lions’ quarter-final exit from the World Cup, saying “it’s time to stop rewarding failure [and] time to hire somebody who can win.”

England outplayed reigning world champions France for parts of their last-eight clash on Saturday but captain Harry Kane’s missed penalty six minutes from time cost them dearly in a 2-1 defeat.

Southgate took over as Three Lions boss after a disastrous Euro 2016 exit to Iceland and Sam Allardyce’s subsequent one-match reign and has rehabilitated the image and results of the national team. England reached the semi-finals at the 2018 World Cup during his first tournament in charge, then made their first major final for 55 years at Euro 2020 before the loss to the holders in Qatar over the weekend.

Southgate - who has a contract to the end of Euro 2024 - has said he feels ‘conflicted’ about whether to stay on as manager and is wary of making the wrong call but Barton, who played one game for England in 2007 and is now manager of mid-table League 1 side Bristol Rovers, is adamant he should be sacked.

A company based in Dorset is facing a ‘major loss’ after purchasing 18,000 T-shirts sporting the message: “England, World Cup winners 2022”.

Mr Baxter, managing director of Poole-based Wholesale Clearance UK, had intended to sell the shirts for £29.99 each, but he has now put them on sale at £9.99 per item. The shirts carry the message: “England, World Cup winners 2022. [Football is] finally home.”

“I’m absolutely gutted that England has been knocked out of the World Cup,” Mr Baxter said in a press release. “I have been really impressed with England’s performance in Qatar and was sure they would win this year’s tournament. When approached by a supplier to sell the shirts, I simply couldn’t say, ‘No.’

“But now I’ve been left with 18,000 shirts that say they’ve won, and I’m not sure what to do.”

The oldest player in England’s Euro 2020 squad was also the oldest in their World Cup 2022 squad. And if, in Kyle Walker, he may have also been the quickest, there is the possibility that a flying 36-year-old could still be the fastest footballer in England by the time the next World Cup kicks off.

But the probability is that Walker’s World Cup career ended with his excellent display against Kylian Mbappe on Saturday. He will not be alone in that. England’s age profile felt almost perfect for Euro 2020 and this World Cup. They have little need for a huge overhaul ahead of Euro 2024. But by the time that, assuming they qualify, they head across the Atlantic in 2026, it will be with a different cast list.

Probably a different manager, too, and Gareth Southgate’s eventual successor, whether now or in 2024, will have his own priorities and preferences. The squad in four years’ time will reflect system and style of play, which players have progressed and regressed, who is injured and who has emerged.

But there will be changes.

Richard Jolly predicts England’s 2026 World Cup squad:

England manager Gareth Southgate is considering his future but left Qatar with few regrets following the crushing World Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of France.

Harry Kane scored one penalty and missed another against the reigning champions on Saturday night in a 2-1 defeat for the Euro 2020 runners-up.

England’s wait to emulate Sir Alf Ramsey’s 1966 heroes goes on as attention turns to Southgate as he processes the last-eight loss and ponders his future.

The 52-year-old has a contract until the European Championship in 2024 but wants to ensure he has the energy required to go again and that the decision is right for the team.

When Gareth Southgate spoke to the England players, some sensing a slight crack in his voice, the manager mostly praised how “brave” they’d been and how it was only a matter of time.

He told them they’d “shown balls” in going toe to toe with the defending world champions, and proven themselves the superior side. There could be few regrets about what had happened on the pitch because they’d left everything on it. Unlike Croatia 2018 or Italy in Euro 2020, England hadn’t been tactically or technically undone. They had actually got it right against France, and had the better of the wider game, if not – crucially – the fine details.

And yet it was precisely because they played better that England actually felt worse. There was a numbness in the dressing room. This was no longer about a journey, after all. It is about finishing one and finally getting there.

Miguel Delaney reflects on England’s defeat in Doha:

If there is a silver lining, it is that this hurts. It did not have to. There was a time when it would not have, in the not too distant past. England are out of a major tournament again, like they were 12 years ago, when performances had nowhere near matched the expectations; like they were eight years ago when they finished bottom of their group; like they were six years ago when arguably the most embarrassing defeat in their history cemented a sense of apathy around this team.

But this time, instead, England are out and it hurts, like it hurt last summer and a few summers before that too. And if this World Cup quarter-final defeat to France sparks any fresh criticism of the person who is mostly responsible for that change in energy and sentiment around England, if it perhaps leads Gareth Southgate to wonder whether it is all worth it in the aggregate and he considers calling time on his six years in charge, then the fact that this hurts again will be his greatest legacy.

Mark Critchley on Southgate transforming the expectations surrounding England despite their defeat:

In 1950, as they scarcely need reminding, Uruguay won the World Cup. The crowd at the Maracana when they beat Brazil in what was, in effect, the final is thought to have been around 200,000. To put it another way, almost 10 percent of Uruguay’s population at the time.

It has proved a turning point in the history of the global game, and not merely because every subsequent World Cup has had an actual final. Uruguay have reached subsequent semi-finals in 1970 and 2010, the Netherlands three finals but no smaller country has won the World Cup since. Until now? Probably not, but Croatia, with a population of less than 4 million, are semi-finalists for the second successive tournament and the third time since 1998 and they have been underestimated every time.

Go back a generation or two and the Yugoslavia national team used to be referred to as “the Brazilians of Europe” but Croatia have eliminated the actual Brazilians, and without being able to call upon Serbian talent such as Dusan Tadic, Dusan Vlahovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Filip Kostic, Bosnia’s record scorer Edin Dzeko, Slovenia’s brilliant goalkeeper Jan Oblak or his Atletico Madrid team-mate, Montenegro defender Stefan Savic.

Richard Jolly discusses Croatia continuing to punch above their weight on the world stage: