England’s World Cup dream ended with a dramatic 2-1 defeat to defending champions Argentina in Wednesday’s semi-final.
The Three Lions looked on course for a place in their first men’s World Cup final since winning the tournament in 1966 after Anthony Gordon gave them the lead in Atlanta.
But Lionel Messi produced another decisive performance to turn the match around. The Argentina captain created Enzo Fernandez’s equaliser before delivering a perfect cross for Lautaro Martinez to score the winner deep into stoppage time.
England captain Kane said the result was painful after the effort the squad had put into reaching the last four.
“We’re gutted for the boys, gutted for everyone – the team, the staff and the fans,” Kane told media afterwards.
“I thought we played a good game for 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.
“We’ve worked so hard to get here and the lads gave everything – blood, sweat and tears.”
Kane, who finished the tournament with six goals, admitted England found it increasingly difficult to cope with Argentina’s relentless pressure after taking the lead.
“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,” he said.
“The lads were putting blocks in but, in the end, it just wasn’t enough.”
The Bayern Munich striker rejected the suggestion that England deliberately sat back after Gordon’s opener, insisting the plan was to keep attacking.
“When we went ahead the message was to go again and get another goal,” Kane said.
“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.”
