World Cup 2026: England to play Mexico as Belgium & USA progress to last 16

Kane 'main man for England'

England 2-1 DR Congo

BBC 5 Live Breakfast

Former Leicester City and Denmark goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast about England's win over DR Congo: "[Harry Kane] is the main man for England, he is probably, along with Erling Highland, the best striker in the world, out and out striker. If there's one player I'd want on my team, it would be Harry Kane.

"So I wouldn't be too concerned yet. I mean I think I think England are or maybe on a slow burner a little bit. They're warming up into the competition. They, like I say, the only real concern is that right-hand side. And if they fix that, then I think they'll be all good.

"The problem for me today was a little bit, particularly on the goal. You have Madueke not tracking back, not helping him out. He needed that support, that help. And I don't know, there's different options. You can move, maybe move Konsa out, or you can move Stones.

"There is options. I think Tuchel is the kind of manager, he'll find a way, I'm pretty sure of that. The other thing you also have to take into consideration, you came up against a goalkeeper on fire. How many times do you see, a lot of those chances go in normally. So this doom and gloom, I am not quite having it because I think in a normal game two or three of them would have gone in anyway, and it would have been a lot easier victory than it ended up being."

'Kane is in the conversation for the Ballon d'Or'

England 2-1 DR Congo

BBC 5 Live Breakfast

Former Leicester City and Denmark goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast: "At this stage, it's about getting through. Was it a performance that inspired a lot of confidence? No. But when you look at every big team, every big has one big player that turns up, and England have that player.

"The concern was obviously a little bit down the right-hand side. I think that's something that they're going to need to look at. But obviously I didn't have anything on the line, but I wasn't nervous. And I understand, but I wasn't nervous for England because Harry Kane just needs one chance. He doesn't even need one, he needs half a chance.

"I mean, we were talking about the miss against Ghana. None of us could ever remember anything like that happening to Harry Kane. That's a one in a... Not even a hundred, it's a one in a thousand kind of thing, so Harry Kane is in the conversation for me now for the Ballon d'Or, he has to be."

'Where would England be without Harry Kane?'

England 2-1 DR Congo

Chris Sutton

Former England forward on BBC Radio 5 Live

I've been to Mexico for the opening game, bit of altitude, it'll be interesting to see how England cope with that.

It won't be easy for England to acclimatise. The bigger deal is Mexico's record is absolutely phenomenal . It's going to be difficult.

I actually thought with regards to the game today listening to Declan Rice I thought he summed it up pretty well, you can never underestimate the opposition. I saw DR Congo draw 1-1 against Portugal and they carry a bit of a threat. For England to win was a big deal. It's knockout football. It's about getting over the line.

The question you want to put out there tonight, where would England be without Harry Kane?

'Not many centre forwards in the world can produce that piece of magic'

England 2-1 DR Congo

Alan Shearer

Former England striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

The big picture is that you are through to the next round and you are facing Mexico on Sunday evening/Monday morning, but it wasn't a good performance. I have the same concerns as I had in the other two games about us defensively. Going forward I thought it was better today.

We have spoken about the big hitters in this tournament and rightly so, and we have to bring Kane into that, his goals today were superb.

His movement for the header was brilliant and then the second goal not many centre forwards in the world can produce that piece of magic. The way he turns and swivels, the balance is incredible, then to get the direction and power into the roof of the net. Some strike.

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