ITV commentator Sam Matterface came under fire for mocking Harry Kane after his late penalty miss as England were knocked out of the World Cup by France.
Gareth Southgate's side took the defending champions all the way in Doha but fell to a 2-1 defeat after Kane blazed an 84th minute spot-kick over the crossbar. The England captain had already netted from 12 yards early in the second-half to restore parity, after Aurelien Tchouameni's first-half thunderbolt had broken the deadlock in the 17th minute.
England were buoyed by Kane's leveller and had the better of the match, but Olivier Giroud restored France's lead against the run of play just minutes before Kane failed to repeat his earlier heroics from the spot.
And Matterface, who was covering the game alongside Lee Dixon, has been criticised for comments he made mocking Kane after his effort missed the target. He, somewhat gleefully, quipped: "They needed Gary Lineker, they got Chris Waddle," referencing the latter's infamous 1990 semi-final shootout miss.
The comment did not go down well with fans, who were left to lick their wounds after England exited the finals at the hands of the reigning champions. Kane was seen in tears on the pitch at the final whistle but was vociferously defended by Southgate and his England teammates after the match.
Speaking to ITV, Southgate insisted: "Look for me, we win and lose as a team. We conceded two goals and missed a few chances. He’s been incredible for us, so reliable in those situations. We wouldn’t be here but for the number of goals he’s scored for us."
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Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson echoed those sentiments and launched a stark defence of Kane, who equalled Wayne Rooney's all-time international goalscoring record with his strike earlier in the night.
"I don’t know how many penalties he has scored for us," Henderson said. "[He] scored the first one, how many goal he’s contributed for us to get here so he’ll be stronger in the long run. He’s a world class striker, our captain - we wouldn’t be here without him."
Asked for his thoughts on the game, Henderson admitted: "It’s hard to now, straight after the game, it’s difficult to find the right words. I thought we gave everything in the game, [we were] disappointed to go 1-0 down but the character, mentality to keep going and find the equaliser. I can’t say anymore really, we give it everything and unfortunately it wasn't our night."
When he was asked if England had missed a chance to win the tournament after outperforming France for the majority of the match, Henderson continued: " Probably [a missed chance] we felt really good, performances were really good, the focus and hunger was good every single day. Unfortunately wasn't our night, credit to France. I felt it was there to win tonight."
