England captain Harry Kane could not hide his desperate disappointment after the dreams of acquiring the second world cup after 1966 was shattered by an inspired Croatia 2-1 in the semi finals in Moscow.
“We’re gutted. It hurts, it hurts a lot,” Kane said after the match at the Luzhniki Stadium.
“It’s going to hurt for a while of course. We can hold our heads up high. It’s been a fantastic journey, we got further than anyone else thought we would have,” The Spur forward added.
Also read: Best reactions after Croatia’s entry to the World Cup final 2018
England draw first blood when Kieran Trippier scored in the 5′ minute of the game though a set piece. This was England’s 9th goal from set piece. But Croatia bounced back in second half and striked in 68′ minute through Ivan Perisic’s left footer. In the regulation time no team was able to find the winner that send the match to the extra time, which was always a plus point for Croatia, who had earlier played 2 matches in the extra time in Russia.
Luka Modric’s side started on a positive note and took the momentum forward to score in the 109′ minute that send England packing from the world cup and the 56 years dream still continues.
“It’s been great to get to this stage and we know we’ve done everyone proud but we wanted to go on and win it,” Kane added.
“We thought we were just good enough, we thought we could have done that. But we’ve fallen just a bit short. It hurts. I don’t know what else to say.
Croatia play France in the finals on Sunday but before it a third place match between England and Belgium will be contested.
It hurts a lot. It will hurt for a while. We can be proud and we’ll be back. Thanks for all your support. #ThreeLions #ENG #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/mJKOWtAOlK
— Harry Kane (@HKane) July 11, 2018
