Harry Kane has said that his penalty miss against France at the 2022 World Cup was the worst moment of his career and has driven him to improve. The England captain missed from the spot in the 84th minute of the quarter-final in Qatar, leading to a 2-1 defeat. He described it as worse than losing any club final, including the 2019 Champions League final with Tottenham.
In response, Kane changed his penalty technique, introducing a stutter run to wait for the goalkeeper to move. The results were spectacular: he scored 31 consecutive penalties for club and country after that miss, before missing one for Bayern Munich against Wehen Wiesbaden this season. Since then, he has netted six in a row, the latest in England's 5-0 win against Latvia on Tuesday that secured World Cup qualification.
Kane said the experience shaped him as a player. 'I always try to learn from those moments. After that penalty, I went 31 without missing. I changed my technique a little bit. I improved in that sense. Those moments only shape you as a person, as a player and it's definitely helped me to become a better player.'
He added that he is motivated to lead England to glory at the next World Cup, hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico. 'I'm looking forward to the next World Cup to try to put that right, to try to go further, to try to lift the trophy as we all dream of doing.'
Kane now has 76 goals for England, with the prospect of reaching 100 seeming increasingly feasible. He scored twice against Latvia and has 18 goals for Bayern this season plus three for England, stating he feels in the form of his life. England head coach Thomas Tuchel praised Kane's professionalism and penalty preparation, noting he has never seen anyone train penalties with such effort.
