Harry Kane has revealed how a painful World Cup miss forced him to change his penalty-taking technique… and the results have been extraordinarily positive.
The England captain missed a crucial late spot-kick during the 2022 World Cup quarter-final defeat by France, blazing high over the bar.
He had successfully converted a penalty earlier in that quarter-final, but his shocking miss haunted him. However, it also drove him to make a significant change.
He has converted all 21 of his spot-kicks for Bayern, including nine in the Bundesliga this season. Not since Bayer Leverkusen’s Hans-Jorg Butt also scored nine penalties in 1999-2000 had a player hit that total in a single Bundesliga campaign.
Speaking to TNT Sports Brasil, Kane said he began looking for ways to improve after the France match, especially with the growing trend of players taking multiple penalties in a single game.
Harry Kane (left) missed a crucial penalty for England against France at the World Cup in 2022
The miss cost England dearly as Kane and Co exited the tournament at the quarter-final stage
But Kane has scored 30 out of 30 penalties for England and Bayern Munich since that blunder
‘When I missed that penalty in the World Cup, I felt like there was something that I can change, especially if you take two penalties in a game,’ Kane explained.
‘It’s something I wanted to try to improve on. Thankfully, it’s been good since.’
Rather than simply striking the ball with power and precision, Kane now watches the goalkeeper closely before making his move.
He said he has been influenced by players who use a similar technique, naming two in particular.
‘There’s quite a few players over the years who have taken penalties like that,’ he added. ‘I think [some players] pop into my head, [Mario] Balotelli was like this, Neymar was like this.
‘There have been players that wait for the keeper before they hit it. That was never something I used to do, I used to go for more power and precision.’
The change has transformed Kane into one of the most effective penalty takers in the world.
He has scored six out of six for England since the France defeat, including a crucial equaliser against the Netherlands in the semi-finals of Euro 2024.
Kane says he tweaked his penalty technique after being inspired by Mario Balotelli (pictured)
Ex-Barcelona and PSG star Neymar (pictured) also influenced Kane’s new spot-kick routine
Kane has now taken 100 penalties over the course of his entire career, scoring 89 and missing 11.
That career conversion rate of 89 per cent compares pretty favourably against some of the game’s biggest names, including Brazil legend Neymar (83%).
Cristiano Ronaldo only scores 84.5 per cent of his penalties, while Lionel Messi (78%) misses more than one in five on average.
But former Man City and Liverpool forward Balotelli has a marginally superior record to Kane’s, having converted 90 per cent of his spot-kicks.
