​Captain Harry Kane has conceded that England still have “another level we can reach” as they push to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966. The Three Lions required extra time to overcome Norway 2-1 on Saturday, and now face a semi-final on Wednesday in Atlanta against Argentina (20:00 BST).
After the quarter-final, England boss Thomas Tuchel voiced his dissatisfaction with the display, saying the team “got lucky,” were “sloppy,” and made “a lot of technical mistakes,” adding that they were “not fast enough, not repetitive enough.” Kane, who is 32, has struck six goals in this tournament and is England’s joint top scorer alongside Jude Bellingham. The captain suggested Tuchel’s frustration stemmed from not replicating the form the side shows in training. “When he sees us train and recognizes the closeness and what we can do, particularly with the players we have, the way we attack, our one‑on‑ones and the skills, he just wants to see that version of us,” Kane explained. “He knows as well as anyone that it’s not as simple as that, we’re playing against strong opposition and good teams. He’s trying to draw it out of us, and we know ourselves we have another level we can reach.”
Kane continued, “We haven’t seen it yet, though we’ve glimpsed it at times. Against Norway it was there in glimpses, but we haven’t had full control the way we’d like, and I believe we can.” He added that England would be facing one of the world’s best teams in the semi-final, and that the most reassuring aspect was simply that they had earned a spot in the last four and still feel they can improve. “But I don’t think it’s something to blow out of proportion. We are showing a lot of good things.”
Bellingham, who has netted twice in England’s last two matches, offered a different take from his captain. “It’s a difficult job out there; it’s a tough shift,” he said after the game. “All the players have put in a hard shift. My thoughts and appreciation go to the lads out there.” He added a defensive nod to England’s opponents: “Maybe he [Tuchel] doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those conditions against Erling Haaland, Martin Ødegaard, Antonio Nusa and Alexander Sorloth. They’re not an easy team to play against. I can’t speak highly enough of the lads.”
Having won the competition in 1966, England are now in the semi-finals for just the fourth time, having previously exited at that stage to West Germany in 1990 and to Croatia in 2018. England have also faced heartbreak in past European Championship finals—losing to Italy on penalties at Wembley in 2021 and then to Spain in Berlin two years later. Kane, who is also Bayern Munich’s captain in club football and one of the team’s standout forwards, acknowledged England’s recent, highly successful era but emphasized that the “missing piece” is lifting the trophy. “It’s been an extremely successful era for our national team,” he said. “Of course, we want to get over the line. That is the missing piece now.”