Top News

Harry Kane has acknowledged that England will continue to feel the pain of their World Cup exit for quite some time, even as he publicly backed Thomas Tuchel to remain in charge of the national team.

England were just five minutes away from reaching their first men’s World Cup final in six decades, only for Argentina to overturn a 1-0 deficit in Atlanta on Wednesday and secure a 2-1 victory with two late goals.

Although the Three Lions responded with a thrilling 6-4 triumph over France in Saturday’s bronze-medal clash in Miami, Kane admitted that the squad would be struggling to move past their near miss.

“Of course, we’re still feeling it from the other night – the emotion and the what-ifs,” said the England captain. “That will stay with us for a while. We’re still in that grieving stage, the emotional stage, and we’ll probably remain there for the next few weeks. Every time you get closer, you think you’ve learned – and we have – but we just have to keep pushing.”

Tuchel’s tactical decisions in the final half-hour against Argentina, including a series of defensive substitutions that left England vulnerable to relentless pressure, have drawn widespread criticism.

Even United States President Donald Trump expressed confusion over the German coach’s approach, particularly regarding Kane’s role after Anthony Gordon’s 55th-minute opener had given England the lead.

Kane, who revealed recently that he had played a round of golf with Trump around 18 months ago in Florida, nonetheless came out in strong support of Tuchel, crediting him for leading England to their best World Cup finish since 1966.

“It’s our highest finish in 60 years,” Kane said. “The enthusiasm he brings, the passion, the tactical know-how – it doesn’t mean you’ll get it right every time. He not only gave the players belief but gave the whole country belief that this could be our year. That’s why it hurts even more, because everyone believed we were going all the way.”

“Everyone needs time to process it – him included. It won’t be until the next camp that we start thinking about what comes next and what our next goal is. As captain, I’ll be having conversations with him, with team-mates and staff, about how we can keep improving.”

After the defeat to Argentina, Kane had hinted that England were “missing that final piece of the jigsaw.” Expanding on that thought, the 32-year-old Bayern Munich striker said, “The last 30 minutes against Argentina is not the team we want to be. We’ve spent a lot of time over the last two years preparing for those moments, trying to be proactive, but in the end, we still lost.”

“It’s easy to talk about it afterwards – we need to be better when we’re actually in those situations. We can train, play qualifiers, but I think the Nations League will be important for us, especially against top sides like Spain and Croatia. Getting used to those intense environments and performing at our best, like we did versus France, even if it wasn’t the most competitive match, is key.”

“We must learn and improve. The coach will grow from this experience too. I can say all I want, but in the end, it’s about showing it next time we’re in that position.”