Harry Kane has described England’s World Cup semi-final defeat by Argentina as the most painful tournament exit of his career, and he says the manner of the 2-1 loss is the reason why. England went ahead in the 55th minute but, in the captain’s words, barely touched the ball thereafter. Kane has admitted he is yet to get over the game and knows it is something he and his teammates must work to process.
“It felt like it wasn’t us as a team,” Kane said. “It wasn’t the team that we wanted to be and said we’d be. When you maybe go against your beliefs and you lose, it feels 10 times worse than just losing in a way where … if we lose doing it our way you accept it, take it on the chin and move on. It’s tough and it will still be tough.”
Kane has been to finals and semi-finals with England and said each disappointment has hurt in a different way — but that this one topped them all, including his missed penalty against France in the 2022 World Cup quarter-final in Qatar, which England also lost 2-1. “I’m so passionate about England and especially because I’ve been on this journey … been to finals, semi-finals and been so close,” he said. “Each one hurts in a different way and this one hurt, for sure, more than any other one. I’d say even more than when I missed the penalty in Qatar because of just the manner that it happened.”
Asked whether it was a healing process, Kane agreed, but said England have no time to indulge it. “It kind of is. But you have to heal while getting on with it. In football, you don’t have time. Before you know it’s the next one. It’s a hard balance because you’re trying to get over it and learn from it but also we play the world champions on Saturday and it’s a big, important game.”
That game is against Spain at Wembley on Saturday night in the Nations League, the opening fixture of four matches in 11 days for England. After Spain, they travel to Czechia and Croatia before returning to Wembley to face Czechia. Kane is chasing a statement performance, and he knows England must identify why they have repeatedly fallen short against the toughest teams when it matters most. “How can we be better in those moments? How can we be ourselves more in those moments?” he said. “Through qualifying campaigns and a lot of games in tournaments, we play with a certain intensity, we play in a good way. It’s something that we haven’t quite been able to do in latter stages of tournaments against the bigger and better nations. It may be a mixture of things. It may be personalities, mentality. It may be just the direction and how we want to play in those games. It’s conversations that we need to have as a group.”
Kane also accepted that Argentina was not the only occasion on which England failed to hit their level. “Taking away the big loss at the end, there were still games at the World Cup where we didn’t quite reach our potential, the way that we train,” he said.
Thomas Tuchel addressed the squad at St George’s Park on Tuesday, and Kane said the message was one of continuity rather than a clean slate. “The general messaging is that we continue what we’ve been building,” he said. “Sometimes after a tournament, it’s easy to say it’s a new start but I don’t think it is that. It’s a continuation because we have done a lot of good things.”
Tuchel has, however, been rocked by the withdrawals of Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Tino Livramento for the upcoming Nations League fixtures. Rice’s absence has attracted particular attention because it is for load-management reasons rather than an injury that would immediately rule him out. Kane said he understood the decision, given Rice’s well-documented problems with nerve pain in a hamstring. “I spoke to Dec. I know Dec goes far and beyond for the club and country. I know he’s been struggling for a while with his issues. Dec reached out to me, he voice-noted me. Everyone has to look after themselves and I trust all the boys.”
It is a significant period for Kane personally. He is four caps shy of Peter Shilton’s all-time England record of 125 and could be level with him by the end of this international window. He is also tipped to win the Ballon d’Or on 26 October and is poised to extend his contract at Bayern Munich. “We’re fairly close,” he said. “I’m happy there. It won’t be too long before there’s some sort of announcement.”
The 33-year-old allowed his thoughts to drift to the longer term, and as he discussed his ambition to become an NFL kicker there was a clear hint that he sees himself finishing his football career in Major League Soccer. “I take penalties and it is a very similar pressure and technique,” he said. “If I was to do it, it is something I would take seriously. I would take six months to a year to try and practise before. Maybe if I am in the MLS in the future or somewhere like that, it might be a thing where you could connect the two maybe with the seasons.”
Kane has previously said he would be interested in becoming a professional golfer, and he revealed he did not watch the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina because he went for a round of golf in New York. “I watch golf and think: ‘I could be there.’ Then I go out and play and I am like: ‘There’s no way.’ I play off two. But I am a member at Wentworth and I shoot 10 over. Then I watch the pros, who played there last week, and 20 under wins it. I think I’ll stick to football.”