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It was the missed penalty that left Harry Kane “gutted” and cost England a chance to take their quarter-final against France to extra time.
Kane said he was prepared to take two penalties, having fired home his first spot-kick with relative ease before failing to execute the next one when it truly mattered.
There are a few theories though as for why Kane’s second attempt skied over the bar.
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Sports world pays tribute to journalist | 01:41
Starting with former Germany striker Jürgen Klinsmann, he told The Telegraphthat Kane may have simply had too much time to think about the shot due to a VAR delay.
“There is far too much time passing with VAR checks etc,” Klinsmann said.
“It works in your brain. I’m a big Harry Kane fan. If he had the chance to put the ball down and take it immediately [he would probably score]. But the time goes by and you overthink.”
Meanwhile, Geir Jordet has gained quite the following online for his breakdowns of penalties and the psychological moves made by both teams in the lead-up to spot-kicks.
In this case, Jordet pointed out the important role that England’s Jordan Henderson had previously played in helping shield his teammates from opposition “mind games”.
“One of England’s players is world leading in supporting teammate penalty takers,” he wrote.
“Jordan Henderson has successfully protected Liverpool’s penalty takers for years, making sure opponents don’t get access to play mind games in those last crucial seconds leading up to the kick.
“For Kane’s first penalty vs France, Henderson did what he does best. First, he called for and grabbed the ball early. Then handed it over to Kane while essentially escorting him to the penalty area, making sure no French players could get access to Kane for a last word.”
That changed though for the second penalty as Henderson had been substituted off, which was particularly crucial given the amount of time that Kane had to stand there after the VAR call.
“For the first 30 sec after the VAR decision, Harry Kane was alone, with only France players around. Not necessarily a problem, but it leaves him vulnerable,” Jordet wrote.
“Kane’s teammates saw this & stepped up. First Mason Mount, then Jude Bellingham (after Stones pointed out a need). Bellingham ended up escorting Giroud out of the penalty area. All good, but was this too reactive & too late? And did it even add noise rather than take it away?
“Kane missed the penalty & England’s hope vanished. Interesting that the first players to emerge around Harry Kane after the miss were all French. Almost the entire French team swarmed around Lloris (and Kane) in joy and excitement, with not a single England player in sight.”
Jordet went to point out that one player — Jude Bellingham — eventually emerged to console Kane, a sign of his potential as a “future leader” for England.
The rest of England’s players then turned their attention to Kane after the final whistle while Henderson again made his supportive presence felt in a very intentional way.
“After the final whistle, all England players show support to their captain,” Jordet wrote.
“ONE of them walks over & stays – Jordan Henderson. Not saying or doing anything, just hanging out there. Clearly on purpose.
“Being a teammate is about being there for the ones who need you the most.”
Speaking to media after the result, Kane took full responsibility for the miss and admitted it will “hurt for probably a long time”.
“As the captain, I’ll take that on the chin and that responsibility, missing the penalty, so it’s hard,” Kane said.
“Really tough night to take. I’m gutted, the team are gutted. We had the belief that we could achieve something special at this World Cup, but it came down to small details.
“On the night we had the better chances, the better spells in the game, but it comes down to the execution.
“I’m someone who, whenever I prepare, prepare for one penalty in the game, two penalties, so I can’t fault my preparation or detail.
“In the lead-up I felt as confident as I did on the first as I did on the second. It purely comes down to execution. I’ll take that on the chin.”
