Kane issues rallying cry as Three Lions look to roar back from Ghana disappointment

Having bagged a brace in the 4-2 win over Croatia, the Bayern Munich star cut a frustrated figure on Tuesday night as the rugged Black Stars dug in to hold on for a goalless draw.

Their resistance should have been broken late on when Nico O’Reilly’s header thumped off the bar and fell to Kane.

But England’s all-time goalscorer couldn’t keep his left-foot effort down and the ball sailed over — leaving him with his head in his hands.

That miss, however, is already water under the bridge for a man who has scored 81 times for the Three Lions.

He said: “You go through games like that. I was just there waiting for an opportunity like that to fall my way.

“You’re just waiting for the ball to bounce and it did — I just couldn’t quite get over it.

"I back myself to score that more often than not. It is what it is. I’ve been a striker long enough to know they don’t always go in, so I have to accept it.

"You’re playing in the World Cup against a decent side who were compact and made it difficult.

“I was kind of man marked there with [Thomas] Partey for a lot of the game, so I didn’t have the space to drop deep and arrive late."

Thomas Tuchel’s men came under fire for failing to move the ball quickly enough to stretch Ghana’s well-organised ranks and create space.

But Kane, 32, is confident there will be no repeat against Panama as England chase the result required to top Group L.

He added: “We’re in a great position. I spoke before about major tournaments — you chunk it up into two separate tournaments.

“First, the group stage, making sure you make it through. Hopefully we can finish with a win and finish top.

“Then comes the second tournament, which is obviously the knockout stage.

“We’ve almost done part one. It’s a quick turnaround but we look forward to getting back out there.”

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Eberechi Eze, who made his World Cup debut as a second-half sub against Ghana, echoed his captain’s words.

The 27-year-old Arsenal ace said: “It’s a long journey. You can’t be too high, you can’t be too low.

“You’ve got to trust in what you’re doing. We’re trying to do that, we’re trying to enjoy it as much as we can and being confident of what’s to come.

“How we’ve been playing has put us in a good position to win the group. As long as we hold onto that, that’s the main thing.”

As Kane and Eze have stressed, England cannot afford to dwell on a performance that will have left fans fearing that 60 years of hurt will not end in North America.

But anything less than three points against rock-bottom Panama, who go into the game without a goal, will leave Tuchel with serious questions to answer.

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