Hurting Harry sees golden chance slip by
MOSCOW — Harry Kane will likely return home from Russia with the Golden Boot under his arm.
However, had the England captain added to his six goals with either of his back-toback first-half chances in Wednesday’s loss to Croatia, he could well have been walking off the plane in London carrying the World Cup trophy.
The same goes for his stoppage-time header at the end of the 90 minutes, which would have sent the Three Lions to Moscow for a final against France.
Rising high at the back post to meet another fine Kieran Trippier freekick, Kane misconnected and the ball bounced wide.
“It’s been great to get to this stage but we wanted to keep going. We wanted to win it all,” Kane said. “It hurts. I don’t know what else to say. It just hurts.”
Goalkeeper Danijel Subasic did well to keep out Kane’s first 30th-minute effort but the Tottenham Hotspur forward should have netted the rebound from two yards out at an albeit tight angle. Instead, the ball hit the post, ricocheted off Subasic and somehow looped to safety.
Kane would not get another such opportunity with the ball at his feet, and Croatia never let England get so close again.
Juventus forward Mario Mandzukic fired past England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the 109th minute and Croatia closed out a 2-1 extratime triumph to reach its first World Cup final.
It meant more semifinal heartbreak for England, only this time the match was under control before it was lost.
In 1990, three years before Kane was born, England also fell short at the semifinal stage — on penalties against West Germany. That team also exceeded expectations and won the adulation of fans at home, with another beloved Tottenham striker the focus of England’s attack.
History in Turin had its echo in Moscow on Wednesday, and England’s scorer 28 years ago, Gary Lineker, was at Luzhniki Stadium to see it.
England’s dominant showing in the first 45 against Croatia was not unlike its opening 30 minutes against Tunisia in Volgograd, when a Kane goal was all the Three Lions had to show for an energetic opening salvo.
The North Africans equalized before Kane ultimately snatched victory with a stoppage-time header.
Staging a similar rescue act, however, against the classy Croatians was a much bigger ask.
“We were really comfortable in the game,” said England defender Harry Maguire, who saw two early headers from corners fly wide.
“The only disappointment was that we were 1-0 up, and we should have been more.”
A philosophical Kane added: “I’m sure we lacked in some areas, there are things we could’ve done better.
“We restored some pride back into the shirt, which was an important thing for us to do.”
Kane is two goals ahead of Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku in the Golden Boot standings, and they can add to their tallies in Saturday’s third-place playoff in St. Petersburg.
England boss Gareth Southgate said of Kane: “He’s captained the team brilliantly. I can’t ask more of him as a captain or as a man over the last three weeks.”
Southgate was effusive in his praise for the entire squad, adding: “I’m hugely proud of what we’ve done. I couldn’t have asked for any more. They’ve broken through a number of barriers in the past weeks.”