Harry Kane was left literally speechless after leading his 10-man team to a dramatic 3-2 World Cup Round of 16 victory over co-hosts Mexico at the famous Azteca on Monday morning.
The England captain endured a rollercoaster 90 minutes, scoring what turned out to be the winning goal, restoring England’s two-goal lead with an ice-cold penalty after Anthony Gordon had been fouled. Earlier, a first-half brace from Jude Bellingham had given England a welcome cushion, before Julian Quinones pulled one back before half-time. However, just nine minutes after converting from the spot, Kane went from hero to villain, conceding a penalty from which Raul Jimenez halved the deficit.
With Jarell Quansah being shown a controversial red card, England were left a man down for the final half hour. As the tie quickly devolved into a 10v11 defensive battle for England, operating in the thin air of the Estadio Azteca and facing a raucous home crowd, Kane led by example, running his socks off in the punishing high-altitude conditions and constantly rousing his exhausted teammates to hold their ground against relentless Mexican pressure. He was substituted in the 90th minute after giving his all and was replaced by midfielder Morgan Rogers.
The gruelling effort ended in jubilation at the final whistle. Kane joined the 3,000 travelling England supporters to belt out Oasis’ “Wonderwall.” The intense sing-along cost him his voice. When Kane stepped up for his post-match press duties, he sounded drastically different, resulting in a viral BBC interview.
‘I can’t really talk’
“Yeah, I’ve just been singing there, I can’t really talk. My voice has gone,” a squeaky, laughing Kane admitted.
“It was a crazy game, we had to fight. We had to find something. It was one of those days, the ref gave a lot (of decisions) against us. In the end, it didn’t matter, so yeah, I’m happy.”
Kane’s goal against Mexico moved him to joint-fifth on the all-time list. He is now tied with legendary German striker Gerd Müller on 14 goals on the world’s biggest stage. It was his sixth goal of this World Cup, placing him second in the Golden Boot race behind Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland, who are joint-top with seven goals each.
England will now face Norway in the quarter-finals and they hope that Kane continues the good work. England have not won any major international trophy since 1966, and this appears their best chance to end the drought.
