England and Spurs need to recognise that a half-fit Harry Kane is no use | Barney Ronay


Club and country must ease the burden on the striker who was rushed back from injury for the Champions League final and then unnecessarily taken to Portugal

With one minute gone in England’s Nations League play-off game in Guimarães, Harry Kane did something brilliant. Jordan Pickford launched a hard, flat pass from his own six-yard box. Kane saw it coming, crept back along the line of the centre circle, then executed a kind of cushioned capoeira‑roundhouse layoff into the path of Jesse Lingard.

Lingard waited a beat, scanning his options. Kane made the choice for him, surging on ahead, pointing where he wanted the ball, then dinking a brilliantly conceived back-spun chip over Switzerland’s Yann Sommer and on to the crossbar.

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