Harry’s spot-kick choker was simply too much to stomach
RATHER like tea-time after a heavy Christmas lunch, England’s World Cup run was enjoyable until Mr Reliable, Harry Kane, missed that “equalising penalty”! It was hard to digest that England were better than their reigning champions opponents, France, but lost 2-1.
It was an anti-climax back home. Viewing figures for the rest of the competition will dip dramatically.
England played better than France in the second half of Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final but a second penalty, this time in normal time, rather than shoot-out, proved to be fatal.
The England camp were quick to defend their captain but, whichever way you look at it, the spot-kick over the crossbar was decisive. That is what Kane is paid big bucks to do – score.
There is some great talent in the England squad and some of them will come again.
I hope Gareth Southgate stays as head coach. We may be out of this year’s tournament but England will progress.
Had Kane scored a second (there was an even later chance) and had there been a better referee than the Brazilian Wilton Sampaio, who was poor at times – particularly over freekicks and possible penalties – who knows?
England followers would have been hoping for that winnable World Cup final after probably beating Morocco in tomorrow’s semifinal. But now it is France’s chance to win backto-back World Cups for the first time since Brazil in 1962.
Football, as managers/head coaches know only too well, is about results and, yes, England were, as
predicted pre-tournament by many pundits, knocked out in the quarterfinals.
However, you do not always get what you deserve and France may have been gloating afterwards but they were lucky in the end to win or at least to avoid extra-time and then possible penalties. Looking at the England squad there is plenty of competition for places up front and in midfield but not in defence. We are short of that in central defence, maybe too for full-back places and in goal. Some will be too old for the next World Cup in 2026 but there are still plenty of young stars. Interesting to hear some pundits and supporters saying afterwards,
for instance, someone else rather than Kane should have taken the second penalty. I do not agree and it is easy to be a Monday morning quarter-back (ie. in hindsight).
I never expected Kane to miss it, even allowing for facing his Spurs team-mate in the French goal.
In a way, I hope Croatia play Morocco in the final! No-one talks about Croatia until the latter stages.
Yet they reached the final in Moscow in the last World Cup and they have every chance tonight against Lionel Messi and all that.
I think England fans would love Croatia v Morocco next Sunday!
Stourbridge-born, ex-birmingham City player, 19-year-old Jude Bellingham, emerged as one of the best players in Qatar and has certainly staked his claim for further fame and fortune.
His younger brother, 17-year-old Jobe, is on the Blues bench at St Andrew’s and they predict a bright future for this other Bellingham
midfielder, who has played 11 firstteam games (one start) for 138 minutes. He signed professional in July.
ITV have tonight’s semi-final live with the BBC screening tomorrow’s. But the figures will dip.
7.4 million UK viewers watched BBC cover England’s 6-2 win over
Iran; followed by an average 11.9 million on ITV for the 0-0 draw with the USA.
Then the BBC returned 16.59 million for England’s 3-0 win over Wales.
England’s 3-0 win over Senegal averaged 13.4 million peaking at 20.4 million before Saturday night’s quarter-final with France on ITV peaked at 23 million, highest viewing figure on a single UK channel this year and ITV’S biggest Saturday night audience for 20 years. The coverage averaged 19.4 million.
BBC and ITV, who have the World Cup rights as it has to be on terrestrial television, come to an agreement so they do not both show the same matches (including the big attraction, England) until the final.
The BBC had gambled on England reaching the semi-final so ITV will consider they came off best, viewing-wise, in the end, although BBC always get the higher head-to-head coverage figure.
This is because they do not have commercial breaks and they are what I call the established ‘traditional’ channel for sport.
My 19th annual Lord’s Taverners Charity Christmas Sports luncheon at Edgbaston stadium raised another good sum with a World Cup theme.
My speaking guests were former England centre-half Terry Butcher (who played in three World Cup finals – 1982 in Spain,1986 in Mexico and 1990 in Italy when he captained the losing semi-final team); Trevor Francis, who played with Butcher in the 1982 tournament, plus the Derby County captain and former Aston Villa centre-half, the articulate Curtis Davies.
Had Kane scored a second (there was an even later chance) and had there been a better referee than Wilton Sampaio, who knows?
In the Sunday Mercury my nostalgia column, with IMPACT, reflects on my pre-world Cup Final 1974 interview with the late appointment of the Wolverhampton butcher Jack Taylor, who was to give a secondminute penalty against the hosts West Germany.