England defeated France in the bronze play-off on Saturday night, their best result at a World Cup since 1966. Three Lions captain Kane sent a message to his team-mates
Kane led England to third place at the World Cup (Image: Getty Images)
Harry Kane has insisted England should be “proud” of the World Cup, even if it takes time to get over the disappointment.
England produced one of the best World Cup games in history in a thrilling 10-goal game against France, and also produced their best performance in a tournament on foreign soil.
Thomas Tuchel’s side left the United States with a bronze medal, although Kane said the entire team was still stricken with regret and disappointment.
England captain Kane said: “There are a lot of positives. Obviously people will already start talking about this. This is the best finish in 60 years, the best finish on foreign soil. There’s a lot to be proud of.”
“Obviously we’re still feeling the emotions from last night and the what-ifs. It’s going to be with us for a while.
“I’m proud of the players, how we approached this game. It wasn’t easy to find that mentality. We said before that it should always be a proud moment when you represent England. Winning a medal is the bare minimum for us.”
“It’s impossible to judge this game because it’s the complete opposite of what would have happened in the final. This shows the quality we have. To score six goals against anyone you have to play well and in a certain way.”
“Every time you get closer, knock on the door. You think you’ve learned, and you do, but we have to keep going.”
Bukayo Saka completed a hat-trick, Declan Rice scored and assisted Ezri Konsa and Jude Bellingham scored a superb sixth goal to finally end the game.
Kylian Mbappé scored twice, Bradley Barcola hit a shot on target and Ousmane Dembele also scored for France, who made an incredible turnaround from 4-0 down at half-time.
Harry Kane remains determined to lead England to silverware (Image: Getty Images)
At 4-3 it felt like England were crumbling and that collapse would open up old wounds from the semi-final defeat to Argentina.
But all it did was change the mood. Before the match, boos erupted when England manager Tuchel’s name was read out. Fans are hurt and angry.
Soccer moves quickly, and the heroics in Mexico City that followed the victory over Norway were forgotten in the crushing defeat against Argentina.
But by the same token, this should be a transformation in another direction. Tuchel needed a quick response and it felt like the players wanted to send a message despite their heartbreak.
Harry Kane talks to Thomas Tuchel (Image: Getty Images)
Even if that’s partially the message. Saka scored a hat-trick and was brilliant, but soon everyone was cursing Tuchel for not playing more.
But that’s unfair because Saka wasn’t at his best. Rice looked great in the armband, but has struggled at times with fitness issues.
Instead of looking back with blame, England need to accept their first-half performance and enjoy the positivity and energy. Eberechi Eze moves forward from midfield. Jed Spence blindfolds himself again. Marc Gehi and Konsa defended well.
This was France and despite the fight back and the crazy nature of the match, this was something to be proud of, despite the fact that England wished this match had been a final as they had lost the last two third place matches in 1990 and 2018.
England’s third-place finish is their best result at a World Cup since 1966 (Image: Getty Images)
Kane was given a rare break but spoke on behalf of the group as captain and now believes they must not only use their failures as “motivation” but also learn from them and take them into the Nations League and Euro 2028.
Kane added: “It’s easy to go away and talk about it. We need to get better at actually being in those situations. We can train, we can qualify… I think the Nations League will be big for us, against big teams in Spain and Croatia.”
“Get used to those big environments and find our best form against those teams, like we did against France, even if it wasn’t the most competitive match. We have to learn and improve.
“Coaches will be improved from these learnings. I can talk all I want, but the bottom line is to show it the next time you’re in that situation.
“Unfortunately, when they started getting back into the game, we were still seeing the signs that we showed last night. We couldn’t put pressure on the ball, we couldn’t hold on to the ball. We need to improve.”
“We know there will always be question marks over the next two years until we face that situation again. We have to take that and use it as motivation.”
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