Harry Kane, Thomas Tuchel criticise England's disallowed goal after 3-1 defeat to Senegal - 'If you know the rules...'
Updated 10/06/2025 at 23:12 GMT+1
Harry Kane and Thomas Tuchel both criticised the decision to rule out England's equaliser against Senegal upon VAR review. The Three Lions, 2-1 down at the time, thought they had levelled the game with six minutes to spare after Jude Bellingham fired home from a corner. Levi Colwill, however, was deemed upon review to have handled the ball, with referee Stephanie Frappart chalking off the strike.
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Harry Kane criticised the decision to overrule England's equaliser in a "big moment" of the match as they suffered a 3-1 defeat to Senegal on Tuesday evening - their first loss under Thomas Tuchel.
Kane notched the opening goal at the City Ground, but the visitors went in front as Ismaila Sarr and Habib Diarra scored either side of half-time.
Tuchel's side thought they had levelled the game with six minutes to go as Jude Bellingham fired home, but Levi Colwill was adjudged to have handled the ball in the build-up upon a VAR review, with referee Stephanie Frappart overturning the goal after being sent to the monitor.
The ball appeared to bounce off Colwill's lower shoulder from the corner, falling fortuitously to the feet of Bellingham from just yards out.
Kane said the decision to rule the goal out went against the laws of the game.
"If you know the rules, it's not handball," the England captain told ITV. "That gets us back in the game at 2-2, and maybe we can go on and win the game, so it's a big moment. That's something to discuss with them after."
Tuchel, meanwhile, said: "I just saw it. It looks more the shoulder than the hand.
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"I saw it as a goal that needs to be checked. It is the first time the referee revisits a goal. So either it is a mistake, so take it away. Or it's not a mistake, so it's a goal."
Cheikh Sabaly went on to score moments from time as England slipped to their first defeat under Tuchel, and their first loss against African opposition in history.
The result came days after England had been questioned for the manner of their 1-0 victory over Andorra, with Tuchel saying he would not "sugarcoat" any criticism towards his team.
The England boss made 10 changes for the match against Senegal, which included a full England debut for defender Trevoh Chalobah.
'Not good enough'
Kane was critical of his side's performance during the defeat, and suggested they had lost an aggressive edge.
"Again, not really good enough," he said. "We had moments, but things with and without the ball just aren't quite clicking. We're losing duels and that aggressive nature.
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"We're not going to panic but, for sure, we know we need to be better. We've got new players coming into the team who haven't got experience at international level. There are a mixture of things, but it's no excuse.
"The World Cup's going to come around really fast, so every camp is really important."
England had a perfect winning record and had not conceded a single goal under Tuchel's guidance before Tuesday night, and the former Chelsea boss was critical of the manner in which they shipped three goals.
"Disappointing result. I'm not sure if we didn't deserve a little bit more result-wise," he said.
"We seemed a bit frozen again and not active enough for a long time in the match. We conceded very easy goals and need to defend better.
"We defended quite well for a long period in the first half. I think our best period came when we were 2-1 down. I thought the reaction was good after we went behind.
"We were more active, free, fluid and aggressive towards the opponent's goal. We had big chances to equalise."
England return to action in September as they look to retain their 100% record in the World Cup qualifying campaign with clashes against Andorra and Serbia.
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