Harry Kane believes that England are still hunting for their “missing piece” after their semi-final exit against Argentina at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Anthony Gordon fired England ahead with a 55th-minute finish from Morgan Rogers’ cross, before Enzo Fernandez’s 85th minute strike and a 92nd-minute header from Lautaro Martinez completed Argentina’s comeback.
Kane post-match told UK broadcaster, BBC One that despite many memories made at the tournament, he believes that they are still missing a crucial piece to break through into a first World Cup Final since 1966.
“We had a lot of good moments at this tournament, a lot of good games and another semi-final.
“We talk about knocking on the door, we’re close, we just need to find that missing piece late in the tournament.
“These tournaments take it out of you with so much effort, pressure and mentality. We’ve shown that throughout the six or seven weeks we’ve been together but we’re just missing that final piece.”
The captain added that he is disappointed for the whole team to exit in the manner that they did with just 12% possession since Gordon opened the scoring.
“Gutted for the boys, gutted for everyone – the team, the staff, the fans.
“We played a good game the large majority of it. When we went 1-0 up we seemed to try and hold on, which at this level is not enough. So, just gutted because we’ve worked so hard to be here and the lads have given every last bit of running, blood, sweat, tears.
“So to fall short is just gutting.”
Following Gordon’s opening goal, England manager – Thomas Tuchel switched to a five-man defence which ultimately proved costly, with Kane putting their defeat down to their poor ability to man mark Argentina’s players as the latter pressed higher.
“We struggled to get pressure on the ball. Especially first half and start of the second half, we pressed them well, we put them under loads of pressure high up the pitch which then allowed us to win balls and control the game a bit better.
“After the goal, whether it was them putting more men forward or us not being able to match them man for man, it was just wave after wave.
“Lads were putting blocks in but, in the end, it just wasn’t enough.”
Kane however claimed that the message from Tuchel was to try and find a second goal after Gordon’s opener in contrast to the tactics witnessed by many fans around the world.
“The boys are always ready for any moment in the game. When we went ahead the messaging was to go again and get another goal.
“Then once they scored their two goals it was to try and find something but we couldn’t quite get the momentum back in the game.”