Penalty comes back to haunt England yet again
England was knocked out of the 2022 World Cup by France in another phenomenal game of the tournament. The quarterfinal matchup was won by the reigning champions thanks to goals from Aurélien Tchouaméni and Olivier Giroud. Ultimately, referee decisions and penalties ended up being the main talking points from the game.
England robbed in first half
England thought they were going to be given a penalty in the first half of the match. Striker Harry Kane was brought down by Dayot Upamecano right on the edge of the French box. Despite player protests, match referee Wilton Sampaio did not award the spot kick.
VAR did also take a look at the incident, but nothing was given. Along with the England team, many fans and pundits took to Twitter to talk about the apparent infringement. It certainly appeared to many that Kane was in fact fouled. VAR may, in fact, agreed that there was a foul but insisted that the infraction occurred outside of the box.
England was, however, awarded two penalties in the second half. Bukayo Saka was brought down inside the box by goalscorer Tchouaméni. Kane scored the spot kick against his Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris. The French goalkeeper has played with Kane at Spurs for a decade.
The English striker could not take advantage of yet another penalty late in the game. Defender Theo Hernandez bundled into Mason Mount inside the penalty area with less than 10 minutes remaining on the clock.
Striker fails to convert massive opportunity
Sampaio did not initially consider the incident a foul; however, VAR insisted that he check the pitch-side monitor. The penalty was eventually awarded to England. Nevertheless, Kane skied the shot well over the crossbar and the Three Lions lost the match 2-1.
The shot was Kane’s only 11th penalty miss in 69 total tries during his career. England fans will surely despise spot kicks by now. The team also lost the 2020 European Championship Final to Italy in a penalty shootout.