Harry Kane: Holding on was not enough against Argentina

Anthony Gordon fired England into a 55th-minute lead but Argentina kept building pressure and this time Thomas Tuchel’s substitutions did not work as Lionel Messi laid on late goals for Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez to turn it around.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Kane said: “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.

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“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.”

Kane insisted the message from Tuchel and his staff was to keep pushing after Gordon’s goal, but it felt as though England increasingly retreated, inviting the pressure which Argentina turned to their advantage.

“We struggled to get pressure on the ball (after the goal),” he said. “I thought especially in the first half and at the start of the second half we pressed them well, put them under loads of pressure, especially high up the pitch which allowed us to win balls and control the game a little bit better.

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“After the goal, whether they were putting more men forward or us not being able to match them man-to-man it was just wave after wave. The lads were putting blocks in but in the end it was not enough.

“The boys were always ready for any moment in the game. When we went ahead the messaging was to go again and get another goal. Once they scored their two goals it was to try and find something but we couldn’t find any momentum to get back in the game.”

Kane added: “We’ve had a lot of good moments in this tournament. We’ve had a lot of good games, another semi-final. We talk about knocking on the door. We’re close. We just need to find that missing piece.

“These tournaments take it out of you. There’s so much effort, pressure, mentality. We’ve shown a lot of that in the last six, seven weeks we’ve been together. We’re just missing that final piece.”