Well, that’s probably a relief in the end isn’t it? As England gear up for the thrillingly room‑temperature double header against Greece and Finland it is hard to feel much disappointment at the news Harry Kane is likely to play, at best, a very minor role. All the better to rest his aching ankle, tortured back and whirring brain, the ligaments that creak and crack like a ship’s rigging, at least until the slog of club football resumes next week.
It has, after all, been 13 years, with 650 professional games and five hugely gruelling England tournaments. Through this Kane’s management of the biting point of his own body has been a constant sub‑narrative, to the extent there is now something unbearably tender about watching those joints and levers gamely firing up once again.
