Kane ‘gutted’ after U21s crash

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England finished bottom of Group B in the Czech Republic, a placing confirmed by Wednesday night’s 3-1 defeat by Italy on Wednesday night and a result that knocked both teams out.

A draw would have been enough to see the Young Lions through but instead they bowed out of the tournament at the group stage for the third successive time.

It was a campaign which was in stark contrast to the team’s displays during a superb unbeaten qualification in which they won nine out of 10 games, scoring 31 times and conceding just twice.

“We’re gutted as a team that we haven’t got there as a team,” Tottenham striker Kane told Sky Sports News HQ. “We played well early on and then two minutes in the first half has cost us.

“There are little things over the course of the tournament that we could have done better and I don’t think we ever reached the top of our form, the form we showed in qualification.

“You have to perform on the big stage and we just haven’t done that. We’ve all gained finals experience here and experience like that can only help us.

“Things don’t change overnight and we need to look back over the games and think about what we could have done better.”

England went into their final game without West Brom striker Saido Berahino, who scored nine times in the qualification campaign, but still had Kane and Liverpool-bound striker Danny Ings in attack.

Kane admitted they should have made more of their goalscoring opportunities, particularly in the defeat by Italy.

“I’m disappointed not to have scored in the tournament because we have created chances,” he said. “We probably could have been a bit more clinical and a bit more cute in their final third but it hasn’t gone our way.”

The departure of the England team from the tournament also signals the end of Kane’s involvement with the under-21s as he will turn 22 on July 28 and he would be ineligible to feature in any future tournaments as an overage player due to the qualification rules.

He wrote on Twitter: “Disappointing end to what was a great two years with the U21s. We have to learn and improve but Defeat only makes me more hungry to succeed!”