Troy Deeney claims that he was absolutely certain Harry Kane would miss his second penalty in the World Cup quarter-final.
The former Watford and current Birmingham striker has taken and scored dozens of penalties throughout his career and claims that he saw tell-tale signs that Kane would miss the second spot-kick against France.
Kane had scored the first penalty past clubmate Hugo Lloris but then skied the second over the bar as England lost 2-1 to France and exited the tournament.
‘I don’t want to sound like an arrogant know-it-all here but I was sure Harry Kane was going to score his first penalty against France — and I was just as certain he was going to miss his second,’ says Deeney in his column in The Sun.
When I watch a match on TV, I can tell you whether a player is going to be successful with a spot-kick, almost 100 per cent of the time.
‘I’ve been taking penalties for years and like anyone who’s done the job regularly, I’ve missed a fair few.’
‘When I watched England’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by France, I thought Kane looked laser-focused for that first penalty, even though there was a long delay and he chose to re-spot the ball.
‘Of course, he hammered it home in trademark fashion.
‘But for the second, something wasn’t right about his breathing and his eyes were everywhere. I wasn’t surprised when he skied it.
‘I’d love to know what his heart rate was. My guess is a steady 85 to 100 beats per minute for the first one and as much as 145 to 160 for the second.
‘None of this is meant as a dig at Kane — anything but.
‘He is now England’s joint-highest goalscorer of all time and one of the most consistent penalty-takers you will ever see.
‘Only two or three times in my career have I taken two spot-kicks in the same game.
‘Just a couple of months ago, at Hull, I scored one penalty then ballooned the second one.
‘Taking a second penalty can really scramble your mind.
‘And I’m talking Hull v Birmingham in the Championship when we were winning 2-0.
‘Not England v France in a World Cup quarter-final, late in the game, when Kane would surely have been thinking, “If I miss this, we’re out.”‘
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