FA feared opener would be stopped

Vertonghen (above) expressed fears that he could be kicked out of the tournament.

England boss Gareth Southgate (right) has insisted they will not follow Germany’s example – their players covered their mouths before their game against Japan to show they had been gagged – as it his job now to focus on football.

But Southgate admitted they feared the worst over FIFA’S punishment because their messaging was “not really clear” in a fiery meeting of seven nations the night before England’s game with Iran and if Kane had been booked in the dressing room any protest would have been left unseen.

The FA had joined with six other nations – Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Wales – in promising to wear the armband but England were fearful of the impact on the players and then decided to abandon the protest. Southgate said: “I don’t know all the ins and outs because I wasn’t in the meeting but there was definitely a feel there were sanctions and not all of those were really clear, so the decision was taken out of the hands of Harry.

“The decisions from the organisation were not even putting the armband in the dressing room. We’ve got to focus on the game.”

Southgate did insist there would be no more gestures and they were not planning anything against the United States.