England striker, Harry Kane, has said fine margins did not go their way, as they lost 3-1 to Netherlands in the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League on Thursday night.
John Stones and Ross Barkley made costly errors, as two extra-time goals earned Ronald Koeman’s men a place in Sunday’s final against Portugal.
England had led through Marcus Rashford’s first-half penalty, only for Matthijs de Ligt to head home an equaliser.
The Three Lions thought they had scored a late winner through Jesse Lingard, only for VAR to rule the strike out for offside.
“We came out a bit slow in the second half but we managed to step it up again, moved it better and scored a goal we thought was the winner.
“But there are fine margins in big games like this and it didn’t go our way. Mistakes were made but we learn as a team, take it on the chin and that’s the way we want to play,” Kane told Sky Sports.
England also fell at the semi-final stage at the World Cup last year, losing to Croatia in extra time and Kane accepted England did not cope well enough with Netherlands’ pressure.
“We made some sloppy mistakes in giving the ball away too easily, they got pressure on us quite high but we have to deal with that.
“When you come up against good teams, like Croatia at the World Cup, this is what they do and you have to get used to that.
“Holland is a fantastic team, as were Croatia, and fine margins have decided it again, whether it’s offside or goals from set-pieces.
“It is what it is, we’re disappointed but we have to learn from it,” Kane added.
Comments