England were beaten 2-1 by France, their captain’s skied spot kick blowing a golden opportunity.
Harry Kane looked ashen-faced at the ground, a fleeting moment where it remained possible to see what had just been lost and what was about to come.
At the end Kane was embraced by Gareth Southgate: to see it felt like a public intrusion on the privacy of a support group. This was hardly a game England deserved to lose, undone by moments of genius by Aurelien Tchouameni and then Antoine Griezmann, whose audacious cross was turned in by some combination of Olivier Giroud and Harry Maguire.
England were aggrieved at the fact Upamecano wasn’t pinged for a foul on Saka but in that clumsy moment Kane also spied an opportunity. Moments later Kane stood still for a pass in the box, solely to draw Upamecano to him. Thus achieved, he bumped him out of the way and allowed the ball run through for a one-on-one with Hugo Lloris, to which his clubmate dashed out and made a terrific, splayed save.
England took over the game, with Mbappe adequately shackled and France reduced to kicking Saka. The referee took a truly maverick approach to these fouls, though the award of one resulted in Harry Maguire climbing into the sky and grazing the post with a header.
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