In England’s 2-1 World Cup quarterfinal loss to France, Harry Kane stated he was ready to take two penalties, but his execution let him down.
The 29-year-old easily converted his first penalty, beating Hugo Lloris of Tottenham, but with only six minutes left in regulation, he blasted his second attempt high over the crossbar.
England was given eight minutes of stoppage time to find a different way to tie the game, but France held strong to secure a semi-final date with a surprise gift. Morocco, which defeated Portugal on Saturday afternoon by a solitary goal,
After the final whistle, Kane fell to his knees as his teammates tried to comfort him. He then got to his feet and told ITV from 12 yards what went wrong.
“No. I’m always someone who prepares for getting one or two penalties in a game, I always have an idea of what I want to do,” Kane said. “I can’t fault my preparation or anything like that, it was just the execution on the night. The first pen was great, the second one I didn’t quite hit it how I wanted to.
“I have to take it on the chin, it will hurt for sure, the whole game will hurt. As the captain, I’ll take that, but I couldn’t be prouder of the boys.
“It comes down to a small detail I’ll take responsibility for. I’m not worried about the team and how it will impact them. We have some great talent.”
Jordan Henderson and England’s captain, Harry Kane, both supported him. Henderson said of Kane: “We know how many penalties Harry has scored for us, how many goals he has contributed to even get us here.”
“He will be stronger for this in the future. He is a world-class striker and our captain, he will bounce back.”
Aurelien Tchouameni’s outstanding long-range shot gave France the lead on minute 17 before Kane equalised from the penalty spot. But 12 minutes from time, Olivier Giroud outran Harry Maguire at the front post to direct Antoine Griezmann’s precise cross past Jordan Pickford at his near post, sealing the French team’s passage to the round of 4.
