England captain Harry Kane will face Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals, potentially drawing on advice given by an Argentine legend, Diego Maradona.
Kane met Maradona before a Tottenham match in 2017. The late football icon, who died in 2020 at age 60, had sought to offer the striker advice on maintaining his performance at the highest level.
Recalling the encounter, Kane noted that Maradona shared some specific finishing advice. "There was a clip of him talking about me finishing and giving the keeper the eyes. It's quite a nice clip actually," Kane said. Maradona's counsel included a suggestion to vary shooting angles: "Harry, don't always go near post with your shots, go across goal sometimes. You know why? Goalkeepers watch you on TV all the time. So next time, across!"
Maradona, a guest of former Argentina teammate Ossie Ardiles at the Wembley match, also spoke with then-Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino. Upon meeting Kane, Maradona had remarked, "What a goalscorer." He also commented on Tottenham's team dynamic, noting Pochettino's "real backbone," goalkeeper Hugo Lloris's ability to "stop everything at one end," and Kane's role in "put[ting] everything in at the other."
Following the conversation, Maradona observed Kane score twice in Tottenham's 4-1 victory over Liverpool. Maradona himself had a significant history with England, scoring two memorable goals against them in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals – the infamous "Hand of God" and the "goal of the century." He went on to captain Argentina to their second World Cup title that year.
Kane, who now plays for Bayern Munich, has scored six goals in the current World Cup tournament to help England reach the semi-finals. He aims to emulate Maradona and former teammate Hugo Lloris, who captained France to victory in 2018, by lifting the World Cup trophy.