Harry Kane has revealed he warned England's players about the 'second game curse' in Kansas City before their goalless draw with Ghana in Boston. The England captain refused to beat himself up over his last-gasp miss, instead backing himself to score the next one.
The 32-year-old blasted over from seven yards in the closing stages. "It's part of a striker's life. I've had many chances go my way this year, chances that probably shouldn't have gone in. Nine times out of 10 I score but in football there is a feeling that it just doesn't go your way," Kane said.
He added: "Before that, Nico [O'Reilly] has hit the underside of the bar. We had a few half sniffs. They were well organised and made it difficult for us. We had good moments, we controlled their counter well. It's the opposite game to the first one against Croatia."
Tuchel Backs Kane Despite Miss
Thomas Tuchel confessed in his post-match press conference that he struggled to warm to the concept of replacing Kane with Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney, given Kane's brace against Croatia and his 61-goal season with Bayern Munich. The England manager also refuted any suggestion England are overly reliant on their captain, who mustered just 19 touches against Ghana — his fewest ever in a major tournament match when playing 90+ minutes.
Kane does not feel that's the case either. "I don't think so. After a 0-0 draw it's easy to maybe say that straight after the game. But there are going to be games like that in the tournament where it's going to be fine margins. I had a good enough chance at the end to score and I'd back myself to score more often than not and we'd win 1-0 and everyone is happy. But it wasn't to be," he said.
"I don't think there is an over-reliance. I think any No 9 at a big team, people expect them to score goals and it's no different for me. When you don't, there are a few questions. It is what it is. There were good parts and parts we can improve. It's nothing to worry about and hopefully we can put it right on Saturday."
Second Game Curse Strikes Again
England's stalemate with Ghana means they have now drawn their second group match at the past four major tournaments. Kane saw it coming and is now focusing on restoring calm in Kansas City to spark a convincing response against Panama.
"I actually spoke yesterday [Monday] before training and just said 'look, in my last three tournaments, we've won the first one and drawn the second one, obviously we've got to be focused on the occasion ahead'. It's not as straightforward as getting carried away — I know we like to do that sometimes, and after the performance, rightly so, because it was a great performance. But this is the fourth tournament in a row where the second game hasn't gone as well as we would have liked, but ultimately is four tournaments in a row where we pretty much qualified after two games, so it's nothing to be ashamed of," Kane explained.
"That's where me and experienced guys who have lived through that will be a calming influence on some of the other boys, and the good thing is we play quickly now. I think we've had a lot of waiting in between the games, so it'll be good just to get back to Kansas now and then, before we know it, we'll be flying to New York."
