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A little over 20 minutes were played when the 64,400 spectators of the impressive St. Petersburg World Cup received a symbolic scene.
English captain Harry Kane received a ball on the edge of the box after a stoppage from Raheem Sterling, which gave him the opportunity to win 1-1 in the ungrateful match for third place against the Belgium. But Kane slipped to the conclusion, the ball missed the target. In the end, they lost 2-0
Kane, striker of Tottenham Hotspur, aged 24, scored six goals in the World Cup. He should be the top scorer of the tournament, if in the final between France and Croatia on Sunday (17 hours, live ticker SPIEGEL ONLINE) nothing supernatural happens.
Frenchman Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé each scored three goals in the tournament, with Croatia's Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic scoring twice each. Ending a bet on Kane would not bring any significant benefit.
With his goals, Englishman is established in Russia on the world stage. Nevertheless, his tournament was changeable. His likely title of best World Cup shooter has three flaws. For the first time, three of his six goals at 6: 1 in the first round against Panama, probably the weakest team on the pitch. Second, he scored three of his goals by penalty. And third, Kane was rarely seen in really important games.
Kane failed in crucial situations
His last goal in the World Cup was in the second round against Colombia. In the quarter-final 2-0 against Sweden, he remained unobtrusive, in the semifinals against Croatia, he made a scene because they do not know the man who has twice top scorer in the Premier League these past three years and last season alone could be outbid by Mohamed Salah of Liverpool. On the score of 1: 0 for his team, he failed in a tight angle twice against Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subasic. It was a mystery that the ball could not land in the goal.
Although the lineman said offside, the video evidence could have been accessed had Kane struck. And then the English would probably not have had to play the match for third place, but would now prepare for the final. Had, would, if.
In the end, it remains that Kane can be awarded as the best shooter in the World Cup, but he failed in crucial situations, however. In the defeat against Belgium, he made a worn impression. He seemed to be the most tired of a lot of tired Englishman.
In the homeland, the possible context for the descent of Kanes was discussed for days. The fact that he had back problems after the wild game against Colombia serves as fertile ground. Ex-international Gary Neville, for example, said after the semi-final against Croatia in his TV expert role on ITV: "I would be surprised if we had not discovered in the coming days that he was one since the match against Colombia.It does not look really good. "
Coach Gareth Southgate defended Kane following his loss to Belgium , although he did not specifically mention his performance in the round of 16: "He was an exceptionally good captain, he would be wrong," he said, pointing out that his team had "played seven games in a short time "and had experienced" incredible physical and emotional demands. "
No big players at the moment
Kane is an example that at a World Cup, does not really matter how many goals you score, but which ones. Mario Götze will still have some heroic status in Germany thanks to his 1-0 victory in the World Cup final against Argentina four years ago. For him, it was the second and last goal of the tournament. Andrés Iniesta also scored only two goals in 2010, one of them being the winner of Spain in the final against the Netherlands.
The top scorer title of the World Cup has had limited validity in the past. In 1994, the Russian Oleg Salenko (with the Bulgarians Christo Stoichkov) best shooter. However, he scored five of his six goals in one game, beating Cameroon 6-1. However, the last World Cup scorer, who became world champion, was the Brazilian Ronaldo in 2002. He notably scored both goals in the final 2-0 against Germany. Great players are just starting to play big games.
Kane still has a long way to go.
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