While Harry Kane missed England’s second penalty in the team’s 1-2 defeat to defending champions France, the 29-year-old has received support from the football community, including England coach Gareth Southgate. The England striker, who had successfully converted two penalties in an England game on three occasions early in his career, saw his second penalty fly high into the stands in the 84th minute of the World Cup quarter-final against France at the Al Bayt Stadium. .
England midfielder Jordan Henderson spoke in support of Kane minutes after England’s seventh quarter-final exit in World Cup history. “We know how many penalties Harry has scored for us, how many goals he has contributed to get us here. He will be stronger for this in the future. He is a world class striker and our captain will bounce back.” Henderson told ITV.
According to Sky Sports, Kane had an 84 per cent success rate in penalties for his club Tottenham Hotspurs and England and the England captain scored his fourth goal from the penalty spot in the World Cup excluding shootouts, making him the leading scorer for England in terms of penalties. conversion excludes shootouts for the team in World Cup.
“I feel for Harry Kane because he has been fantastic tonight, in so many aspects of his game. It may have been his best game of the tournament. If I think about it too long, I think Hugo Lloris is the good side and tried to hit it a little harder,” former England midfielder Danny Murphy told BBC Sport.
England’s Harry Kane looks dejected after the game as England are knocked out of the World Cup. (Reuters)
Two months ago, Kane scored from a penalty before missing a penalty for his club Tottenham Hotspurs against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League. Earlier in 2018, Kane had missed one penalty before scoring from the second penalty against Liverpool.
While players like Wayne Rooney, Chris Waddle, David Batty and Paul Ince have missed from the penalty spot for England in the World Cup, Kane’s missed penalty in the stadium was also watched by former England captain David Beckham. Beckham had missed the penalty and saw the ball fly over in a similar way in the quarter-final of Euro 2004 against France. Former England goalkeeper Rob Green also defended Kane.
“Now if I could give anyone the ball to take a penalty it would be Harry Kane. He was there and missed and it happened, but you wouldn’t begrudge any England player.” Green told BBC Radio 5.
England’s Harry Kane looks dejected after the game as England are knocked out of the World Cup. (Reuters)
In the semi-final of the 1996 European Championship against Germany, Gareth Southgate also missed a penalty and the English coach showed his confidence in Kane.
“Look for me, we win and lose as a team. We conceded two goals and missed a few chances. He’s been incredible to us, so reliable in those situations. We wouldn’t be here without the number of goals he has scored for us,” Southgate told ITV.
The only exception was ITV commentator Sam Matterface who mocked Kane for missing the second penalty. Matterface, reporting on the game alongside Lee Dixon, compared Kane to Chriss Waddle, who missed the penalty in the 1990 semi-final shootouts against West Germany. “They needed Gary Lineker, they need Chris Waddle”, said Matterface during the match.