Kane not shaken by Turkey penalty miss
Harry Kane’s soaring confidence has not been dented by his penalty miss against Turkey.
Kane claimed the Premier League golden boot after netting 25 times for Tottenham last season and has already scored five times in 11 international appearances.
He opened the scoring in Sunday’s Euro 2016 warm-up against Turkey after just three minutes but, with the scores locked at 1-1 in the second half, he saw his spot-kick graze the outside of the post.
His strike partner Jamie Vardy made amends by drilling home a close-range winner later on, but the sight of a leading player missing from 12 yards on the eve of a major tournament is enough to bring the average England fan out in a cold sweat.
Kane, though, took it in his stride.
“Look I’m a striker and you are going to miss chances. It is just another chance,” he said. “If you want to learn and get better, it is moments like that you have to work on. But I will be there to step up for the next one.
“But obviously the skipper [Wayne Rooney], when he comes back, he normally takes them so we will see what happens in the next game.”
Kane has converted from the spot eight times for Spurs in the last two seasons, and last failed against West Ham in February 2015.
“Of course it isn’t nice to miss a penalty,” he said. “But I put a lot of work into them. I practice them a lot and this is the first one I’ve missed for a while.”
Kane and Vardy both took the chance to show off their finishing instincts at the Etihad Stadium, with the Leicester man guaranteeing victory with a close-range finish.
Rooney’s return after winning the FA Cup with Manchester United increases the competition for starting places in attack, though his recent efforts in a withdrawn midfield role could provide England boss Roy Hodgson with a solution.
For now Kane is in the dark about the pecking order but believes the possibilities bode well.
“When you have got a pair of strikers who have scored 25 and 24 Premier League goals it shows that we have top strikers,” he said.
“We both scored again on Sunday and scoring is a good habit to have. We are up there, we are confident, we are both scoring goals and long may it continue.
“Obviously Wayne has been doing great in that deeper position, but we’ve all got to fight for places.
“There are a lot of good midfielders and a lot of good strikers so there are a lot of options in those positions so the manager will do what he wants to do.”
