Captain moved with greater purpose when he was substituted than at any other time of the evening
his was not Harry’s game. It was not his or England’s tournament either and perhaps, once they have picked themselves off the floor from a traumatic, climactic night in Berlin, they will acknowledge that something has indeed changed forever. The sight of Harry Kane removing his armband, handing it to Kyle Walker and running to swap places with Ollie Watkins in the 61st minute was an oddly moving finale to his summer.
This was business, an impression cemented during the pre-match walkabout. Spain’s players were already mingling by the halfway line when Kane, again well ahead of the pack, led England out to absorb the scene. They were still there when he took them back in again after the briefest of turns around the turf. The message, driven by the captain, seemed clear: any sightseeing in this strange, historic, discomfiting venue could wait.
By half-time the awkward sense was that England may need another such intervention. Broadly the game was going to plan: the wisdom had been that, the longer proceedings remained level, they would be the likelier winners. Spain had largely been reduced to aimless crosses while Lamine Yamal had looked vague and imprecise. But Kane had not exactly led the charge for England and it was little surprise, as the 20-minute mark passed, that he had not touched the ball.
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