Harry Kane helped inspire England to the most dramatic of 3-2 victories over Mexico to keep their World Cup 2026 dream alive and his performance attracted the attention of a particularly notable viewer.
Shortly after the full-time whistle blew to send England into a quarter-final against Norway on Saturday, US president Donald Trump took to Truth Social to praise the Three Lions captain in his own typical style.
“Harry Kane of England is a GREAT player!!!,” declared Trump.
Kane had played a crucial role in England’s memorable victory at the Estadio Azteca, holding his nerve from the penalty spot to score the vital third goal for his side after Anthony Gordon was fouled, and also assisting Jude Bellingham’s second goal.
For that Bellingham effort, Kane burst into the box and looked set to shoot at goal himself but instead cleverly squared the ball to the Real Madrid midfielder to tap home.
The 32-year-old was subbed off late on for the fresh legs of Morgan Rogers as England withstood a final Mexican onslaught and then had the BBC’s pundits in hysterics after the match when he lost his voice during the raucous celebrations.
Speaking to the BBC’s Kelly Somers on the pitch after joining his teammates serenading fans with Oasis classic ‘Wonderwall’, Kane’s voice repeatedly cracked and squeaked as he admitted “I can’t even talk”.
Back in the studio, the panel were delighted at the occurrence, with host Kelly Cates describing it as an interview that would “go down in history” and pundit Wayne Rooney calling it “the best interview I’ve ever seen”.
It’s not clear which element of Kane’s performance prompted Trump to take to social media to profess his admiration and the fact that USA are now the last co-hosts standing after Mexico joined Canada in a last-16 defeat could also have played a role, not to mention the complicated relationship the president has had with his country’s southern neighbour, and their president Claudia Sheinbaum, over the years.
Trump was expected to play an outsized role at this World Cup but he is surprisingly yet to attend a match. His alliance with Fifa president Gianni Infantino has been well documented in the build-up, but while Infantino has been criticised for attending two matches a day no matter the cost to the climate, Trump has been conspicuous by his absence.
He is scheduled to present the World Cup trophy at the final on 19 July but, as it stands, looks unlikely to turn up to any games before that.
However, he did enter the fray in a more notable way than just posting about Kane on Sunday, when, according to New York Times reports, he personally called Infantino in an effort to get Fifa reconsider the controversial red card and one-match ban for the US’s star striker Folarin Balogun.
As is his usual way, Infantino acquiesced to Trump and Fifa “suspended” Balogun’s punishment for a year, enabling him to play in the USA’s crunch last-16 tie against Belgium this evening.
Fifa cited article 27 of its disciplinary code as reason for suspending the red card punishment, meaning Balogun will only serve his one-game ban if he commits another similar offence in the next 12 months.
Upon hearing the decision, Trump posted on Truth Social: “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice.”
That, and the Kane post, were part of a remarkable social media spree from the president, who posted at least 105 times on Truth Social on Sunday, just 24 hours after his July 4 speech was beset by weather problems.
