Arise, Sir Harry! Kane proves the doubters wrong

Harry Kane proves doubters wrong

The English media can be rather venomous when it comes to their players. While they are quick to build them up ahead of a major tournament, they are waiting in equal measure for the first sign of weakness, delighting in the chance to sink their teeth in and remove what little life is left after failure.

While Harry Kane may be the 'Golden Boy' of English football, the media build-up to the tournament consisted of the highlighting of past issues, instead of encouragement for an extremely talented player ready to lead his country into the biggest football event on the planet.

Kane's major tournament debut at the EUROs in 2016 was a bit of a disaster. The Tottenham Hotspur star was put on corner and set-piece duty by then-coach Roy Hodgson, a duty which he failed miserably at. The media and fans alike had a field day laying into Kane for his poor delivery from situations he is much better suited to being at the other end of.

Well, boy, did Kane answer his critics in the best way possible on Monday night!

The striker scored two goals and led his side to a late victory against Tunisia. England have a poor record against African sides at the World Cup, so to put to bed their previous stumbles will no doubt give the camp a massive lift. Kane was his hard-working self and showed off his predatory skills by being in the right place at the right time for both of his goals. They say a top forward knows where he needs to be ahead of the play, and Kane proved that to be the case. Now that Kane has announced himself to the world (not that he really needed to) and England got off to a winning start, will the English media take a step back and appreciate rather than depreciate? Here's hoping for Kane and co's sake...

The good, the bad, and the VAR

This debate over VAR is not going to go away anytime soon, is it? Well, it doesn't help matters when the handling of it is so inconsistent.

We saw the good side of the system in Sweden's 1-0 over South Korea, with a penalty rightly being awarded after the on-field referee had waved away appeals. However, the bad side reared its ugly head in the clash between England and Tunisia.

Harry Kane was basically rugby tackled twice in the box, with both incidents being reviewed by the VAR team. Neither were given as penalties, despite the fouls being as clear as day to anyone watching.

I did mention on Monday that we need to give VAR the benefit of the doubt and a full tournament to work out any issues, but the inconsistency in decision making is hugely frustrating. Surely if your average fan on the couch can see issues, the VAR team can do the same?

Belgium show their class with cracking goals

There is no denying that Belgium have a very classy group of players. Eden Hazard, Dries Mertens, Kevin de Bruyne, and Romelu Lukaku are just a few of the talented men who turn out for the Red Devils. However, they have flattered to deceive at recent major tournaments (see EURO 2016 and World Cup 2014), which has led to much criticism.

Could 2018 be their year, though?

After a slow start to their match against Panama, Belgium blew their opponents away in a very classy manner. The volley from Mertens was glorious, the cross from De Bruyne for Lukaku's header was unreal, while the pace, power, and finish for the third from Lukaku was devastating.

If Belgium can turn up like they did in the second half for the rest of the tournament, then who knows how far they will go? They have the talent, but do they have the belief to make it count?

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