Why Kane can't break England's championship curse

On July 14, 2024, England faced Spain in the European Cup final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. In the 86th minute of the game, England fell behind 0-2. In the 90th minute, Kane ran hard into the penalty area and was substituted. At the moment of the substitution, England captain Kane walked past the bench with his head lowered. He knew that his dream of another national team championship was shattered.

Kane will be 31 years old in 2024 and will score the first 64 goals in the history of the England national team. He broke Rooney's record and scored more goals than Beckham, Lineker, Shearer, Metcalfe and other English legends. But he doesn't have any national team championship trophies. This curse has plagued Kane for 10 years and has plagued English football for 58 years.

Kane's brilliant statistics

Kane's career total has exceeded 400 goals and he is one of the most efficient shooters in the history of English football. At the club level, he has won the Premier League Golden Boot three times, the European Golden Boot once, and the World Cup Golden Boot once.

Kane is a perfect shooter statistically, but team honors are very scarce. At the club level, he has only won the League Cup once in 10 years with Tottenham. He also unexpectedly lost the Bundesliga championship in his first year after joining Bayern in 2023. At the national team level, he participated in 3 World Cups and 3 European Cups, all of which came back empty-handed. This contrast between statistics and honors has become a spectacle in football history.

England's Championship Curse

The last major championship won by the England men's football team was Hurst's hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup at home. In the past 58 years, England has never won any major championship. This is the most embarrassing reality for the largest football country.

Kane has high hopes after taking over the England captain's armband. He participated in the fourth place in the 2018 World Cup, the runner-up in the 2020 European Cup, the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, and the runner-up in the 2024 European Cup. Getting close again and again and failing again made Kane the spokesperson for this curse.

The pain of the 2020 European Cup final

In the 2020 European Cup final, England faced Italy at Wembley, and Italy won 4-3 in a 1-1 penalty shootout. Kane is the England striker and he scored the first penalty kick. But Sancho, Rashford, and Saka missed penalty kicks one after another.

After the game, Sancho and three other English players were racially abused by English fans. As captain, Kane made a public statement to protect his teammates. This kind of leadership made the fans admire them but they still didn’t win the trophy. This is the closest Kane has come to a major championship.

The collapse of the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals

In England's quarter-final match against France in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Kane received two penalty kicks. For the first time, he scored a free throw to tie the score 1-1. In the 84th minute of the second game, he faced Lloris and sent the ball over the crossbar.

This was the most painful penalty of Kane's career. After missing the penalty, England lost 1-2 and were eliminated. The camera shows Kane's face full of shock and pain. This miss put England away from the championship again and extended Kane's national team championship curse.

The loss of Euro 2024 runners-up

England reached the finals of Euro 2024 relatively smoothly. In the final against Spain Kane, he started but his performance was sluggish and he was replaced in the 86th minute. In the 57th minute, Spain started to lead 2-1.

Kane did not miss a penalty in this final, but his overall performance was far inferior to his peak. At 31 years old, he is already thought to be declining. This runner-up left Kane with a record of two final defeats in the history of the European Cup, making him one of the unluckiest captains in England's history.

Why Kane can't win the championship

The core reason why Kane could not win the championship is that the overall level of the England national team is not enough to win the championship. Even with stars like Kane, Bellingham, Foden, and Saka, England's midfield organization and defensive stability are always not as good as those of Spain, France, and Germany.

Kane's personal ability is top-notch, but he is not a player like Messi who can single-handedly lead the team to win the championship. He is a fulcrum forward who needs support from his teammates. The England team has not solved the problem of creativity in the midfield for many years, and it is useless no matter how good Kane is in the front. This is a structural problem that cannot be solved by Kane personally.

Controversy over Kane's departure from Tottenham

Kane will move from Tottenham to Bayern in August 2023. He has been with Tottenham for 10 years and is the spiritual leader of Tottenham. Tottenham fans are divided into two groups this time around.

Supporters believe Kane needs an explanation from the champion. The opposition believes Kane should stay with Tottenham until the end. As a result, Kane unexpectedly lost the Bundesliga title with Bayern in the 2023-24 season, but Tottenham achieved its best ranking in decades. This transfer makes Kane's championship dream even further.

Comparison between Kane and Ronaldo Messi

Kane is 31 years old and has yet to win a major championship. During the same period, Ronaldo had already won the 2014 Champions League and the 2016 European Cup when he was 31 years old. Although Messi did not have a major championship when he was 31 years old, he later won the 2021 Copa America and the 2022 World Cup.

The gap between Kane is not in ability but in luck and team. Cristiano Ronaldo has the golden players of Real Madrid to cooperate with, and Messi has the new generation of Argentina to cooperate with. Kane has been lacking a world-class midfielder in England. This structural difference makes it difficult for Kane to copy Ronaldo and Messi's counterattack script.

The 2026 World Cup is Kane's last chance

Kane will be 32 years old in the 2026 World Cup and theoretically still captain of England. But his condition has begun to decline, and 2026 may be his last chance to compete in a major competition.

If England loses again in 2026, Kane's national team career will end with zero championships. This ending is a huge pity for the most prolific goalscorer in the history of English football. Kane himself is also aware of this. He has publicly stated many times that 2026 will be his last all-out effort.

The true meaning of national team championship

Kane's story illustrates that national team championships and personal honors are two dimensions. Kane is already one of the greatest strikers in England's history in terms of statistics, but the lack of national team championships always makes him question whether he can be called a legend.

This controversy reflects the peculiarities of football's evaluation system. A player who scores a record number of goals can be considered inferior to a player who scores fewer goals but wins a championship. Championships are more important than individual statistics. This is the cruel truth of football. Kane's curse may never be broken, and his position will always be full of regrets in the history of English football.