England captain Harry Kane has broken his silence following the team's World Cup exit, expressing his disappointment after the 2-1 loss to Argentina. Kane described the defeat as "hard to take" and lamented the "missing final piece of the jigsaw" that he believes is preventing England from reaching major finals.
"No words are big enough right now to overcome this empty feeling in the stomach," Kane stated on social media. "We were close, really close to another final but it wasn’t enough. We’ve given everything over these last 7 weeks and to fall short is hard to take!"
Kane, who scored six goals during the tournament, acknowledged the high expectations placed on the team. "I know the expectations are high and rightly so, we’ve been knocking on the door for 8 years now but again are missing that final piece of the jigsaw!"
He urged the team to learn from the experience and move forward. "That’s where we have to go away, process it and find a way to get better. I’m so proud of the boys and what we have shown throughout this tournament - some tough games and tough environments that we have overcome."
Kane extended his gratitude to the supporters and his teammates. "Thank you to every single fan that travelled and showed their support in the stadiums. Thank you to every fan back home for believing in us. Thank you to the boys and staff for everything you have given. As always Win or lose, we learn and go again!"
In his post-match interview, Kane shared his personal devastation. "I'm gutted. I'm gutted for the boys, I'm gutted for everyone, the team, the staff, the fans. We played a good game for the large majority of it. Once we went 1-0 up we seemed to just try and hold on which at this level is just not enough, so I'm gutted. We worked so hard to be here. The lads have given every last bit of running, sweat, blood, tears, whatever it is, so to fall short like today is just gutting."