England were humbled out of the 2018 World Cup by Croatia and the defeat has now given rise to a number of questions.
The Three Lions took the lead through a superb Kieran Trippier free-kick but Croatia dug deep and eventually won the match with a scoreline of 2-1 – courtesy goals from Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandukic.
After Croatia levelled the game 1-1, Southgate’s team looked rattled and failed to shift gears. But that does not mean that England failed to create chances.
With 1-0 up, England had the chance to seal the game but captain Harry Kane failed to score and in turn give the Three Lions that all-important second goal cushion.
Kane had one more chance to win it for England late on in the second half but failed to head the ball into the back of the net from close range.
Apart from missing these two chances, Harry Kane, in general, looked lacklustre during the whole game and now pundit Gary Neville has claimed that the striker might have been playing with a knock.
Neville is working as a pundit on ITV’s World Cup show and it was here that the former England International said: “I’d be amazed if he hadn’t been carrying an injury since the Colombia game,”
And immediately after Gary Neville made this comment, it started resonating across social media and many people started wondering if Harry Kane was not a 100 %.
But England manager Gareth Southgate was quick to put out all such rumours and claimed that his captain was fully fit before the Croatia game.
Southgate said: “No issues before the game,
“But, by the end, several players were out on the feet. We moved down to ten when Kieran (Trippier) went off, but again that shows how much they’ve given.”
In all honesty, it was not only Harry Kane who looked below par during the semi-final defeat as most of the England team looked weak and exhausted as the game progressed and eventually, Croatia nicked the winner in extra-time.
Read:Â Gareth Southgate’s reply to England’s World Cup exit is pure class.
Read:Â Here’s how Croatia mocked England after the Three Lions’ World Cup exit.
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