England-France: Should Harry Kane have had penalty in World Cup quarter-final?

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England captain Harry Kane went down under a challenge from Dayot Upamecano in the first half. Should it have been a penalty?

England captain Harry Kane goes down under a challenge from France's Dayot Upamecano during the teams' World Cup 2022 quarter-final in Qatar.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

England captain Harry Kane thought he should have had a penalty during the first half of the Three Lions' World Cup quarter-final against France on Saturday night.

Kane looked to have been caught by France defender Dayot Upamecano in a tangle of legs on the right side of the area and the Tottenham striker was furious that no spot-kick was awarded.

Replays showed the incident was on the edge of the box and it was difficult to establish defininitely whether the contact occurred in or outside the box.

England were a goal down at that point following a fine strike by Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni from outside the box, but Gareth Southgate's side responded with a good period of pressure after the goal.

And after 25 minutes, they thought that pressure would be rewarded with a penalty.

However, there was no change in the decision following a VAR check and no spot-kick for Kane.

What do you think? Was it the correct call? Or should England have been awarded a penalty for Upamecano's challenge on Kane?

Ben Hayward
Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.