{"id":780398,"date":"2026-09-23T22:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780398\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T22:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:30:12","slug":"harry-kane-admits-englands-world-cup-2026-exit-hurt-more-than-any-other-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780398\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Kane admits England\u2019s World Cup 2026 exit \u2018hurt more than any other\u2019 | England"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harry Kane has described England\u2019s World Cup semi-final defeat<\/a> against Argentina as his most painful tournament exit because of how the team lost sight of who they were.<\/p>\n

The captain is determined to move on as quickly as possible and is chasing a statement performance against Spain at Wembley on Saturday night in the Nations League<\/a>. But he admits he is yet to get over the Argentina game and knows it is something he and his England teammates must work to process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like it wasn\u2019t us as a team,\u201d Kane said, as he reflected on how England<\/a> lost their way in the 2-1 defeat, barely touching the ball after they went ahead in the 55th minute. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the team that we wanted to be and said we\u2019d be. When you maybe go against your beliefs and you lose, it feels 10 times worse than just losing in a way where \u2026 if we lose doing it our way you accept it, take it on the chin and move on. It\u2019s tough and it will still be tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so passionate about England and especially because I\u2019ve been on this journey \u2026 been to finals, semi\u2011finals and been so close. Each one hurts in a different way and this one hurt, for sure, more than any other one. I\u2019d say even more than when I missed the penalty in Qatar [in the 2-1 defeat by France<\/a> in the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals] because of just the manner that it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was put to Kane that it was a healing process. \u201cIt kind of is,\u201d he replied. \u201cBut you have to heal while getting on with it. In football, you don\u2019t have time. Before you know it\u2019s the next one. It\u2019s a hard balance because you\u2019re trying to get over it and learn from it but also we play the world champions on Saturday and it\u2019s a big, important game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane knows England must identify why they have repeatedly fallen short against the toughest teams when it matters most. \u201cHow can we be better in those moments? How can we be ourselves more in those moments? Through qualifying campaigns and a lot of games in tournaments, we play with a certain intensity, we play in a good way. It\u2019s something that we haven\u2019t quite been able to do in latter stages of tournaments against the bigger and better nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be a mixture of things. It may be personalities, mentality. It may be just the direction and how we want to play in those games. It\u2019s conversations that we need to have as a group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane accepts it was not only against Argentina that England were not at their best. \u201cTaking away the big loss at the end, there were still games at the World Cup<\/a> where we didn\u2019t quite reach our potential, the way that we train,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But the message \u2013 as articulated by Thomas Tuchel when he addressed the squad at St George\u2019s Park on Tuesday \u2013 was of the need to fine-tune. \u201cThe general messaging is that we continue what we\u2019ve been building,\u201d Kane said. \u201cSometimes after a tournament, it\u2019s easy to say it\u2019s a new start but I don\u2019t think it is that. It\u2019s a continuation because we have done a lot of good things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harry Kane asked: \u2018How can we be better in those moments? How can we be ourselves more?\u2019 after England\u2019s World Cup heartbreak. Photograph: Dylan Martinez\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Tuchel has been rocked by the withdrawals<\/a> of Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Tino Livramento for the upcoming Nations League fixtures; after Spain, England play Czechia and Croatia away before returning to Wembley to face Czechia. Rice\u2019s absence has attracted attention because it is for load-management reasons rather than an injury that would immediately rule him out. Kane understands the move, given Rice\u2019s well-documented problems with nerve pain in a hamstring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to Dec,\u201d Kane said. \u201cI know Dec goes far and beyond for the club and country. I know he\u2019s been struggling for a while with his issues. Dec reached out to me, he voice-noted me. Everyone has to look after themselves and I trust all the boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It is a seismic time for Kane. He is four caps shy of Peter Shilton\u2019s all\u2011time England record of 125; he could be level with him by the end of this international window. Kane is also tipped to win the Ballon d\u2019Or on 26 October and is poised to extend his contract at Bayern Munich. \u201cWe\u2019re fairly close,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m happy there. It won\u2019t be too long before there\u2019s some sort of announcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old allowed his thoughts to drift to the longer term and as he mused about his ambition to become an NFL kicker, there was a clear hint he saw himself finishing his football career in Major League Soccer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take penalties and it [being an NFL kicker] is a very similar pressure and technique. If I was to do it, it is something I would take seriously. I would take six months to a year to try and practise before. Maybe if I am in the MLS in the future or somewhere like that, it might be a thing where you could connect the two maybe with the seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane has previously said he would be interested in becoming a professional golfer. He loves to play and revealed he did not watch the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina because he went for a round of golf in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watch golf and think: \u2018I could be there.\u2019 Then I go out and play and I am like: \u2018There\u2019s no way.\u2019 I play off two. But I am a member at Wentworth and I shoot 10 over. Then I watch the pros, who played there last week, and 20 under wins it. I think I\u2019ll stick to football.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harry Kane has described England\u2019s World Cup semi-final defeat against Argentina as his most painful tournament exit because…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-780398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gb","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}