England captain Harry Kane insists it was execution, not preparation, that was to blame for his error from the penalty spot in the Three Lions’ World Cup quarter-final defeat to France.
Kane rifled a spot kick past Tottenham team-mate Hugo Lloris in the first half to draw England level following Aurelien Tchouameni’s early opener.
Olivier Giroud headed Les Bleus back in front in the second half but Kane had a glorious chance to equalise again from the spot with six minutes to go, only to fire his second penalty over the bar.
After the game, Kane was asked by ITV if the first penalty had impacted his thought process for the second.
“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.”
Kane made history with his first goal, equalling Wayne Rooney as England’s all-time top scorer on 53 goals.
But it will not be a moment for the England skipper to remember, with attention now switching to Euro 2024.
Gareth Southgate’s future as manager is in doubt after he admitted he will need time to consider his options, but Kane gave the boss his full backing to remain in post.
“We’ve loved having him as a manager, I think he’s been incredible, when you see where he’s taken us from to where we are now, it’s an amazing leap,” Kane said.
“I think we all hope he stays, but that’s his decision, obviously he’ll go away and review that, but before we know it we’ll be getting ready for a Euros.”
