Harry Kane has described the most devastating moment of his career as the driving force behind his quest for World Cup glory with England. The 31-year-old striker missed a crucial penalty in the quarter-final loss to France in Qatar three years ago, a miss that would have forced extra time. That failure, he says, remains the lowest point of his professional life and has spurred him to refine his technique relentlessly.
Since that miss, Kane has converted 31 consecutive spot-kicks, a testament to the changes he made to his approach. Reflecting on the incident, he said: 'I'd say that was probably the worst that I felt in any moment. You almost feel like it fell on my shoulders and not being able to execute something I've done many times.' He added that the experience motivated him to improve not only his penalty taking but his overall game.
Now captaining Thomas Tuchel's England side, Kane has already secured qualification for next summer's tournament in the United States, becoming the first European nation to do so after his brace against Latvia. With 76 goals in 110 appearances, he is eager to put that bitter memory behind him and lead England to their first World Cup triumph since 1966.
Kane acknowledged the bond with Tuchel, who brought him to Bayern Munich and had previously tried to sign him for Chelsea. He stressed that winning the World Cup has always been his boyhood dream and believes this time England have a genuine chance. 'We've been knocking on the door,' he said. 'But we know we're just at the bottom of the mountain still. To win a World Cup is going to be incredibly hard. But we are in a great moment.'
Looking ahead, Kane is determined to use his experiences to help younger teammates embrace the occasion. 'I want to help England get back there,' he said. 'I've been lucky enough to play in two World Cups now... it's using those experiences to try and help some of the other lads.' The next World Cup, he hopes, will be the stage where he finally puts that missed penalty to rest.
