World Cup 2018 third place play-off: Belgium 2-0 England – as it happened

Kane speaks

“I thought we played really well in the second half. We had them on the ropes for the first half hour of that but we couldn’t get the goal. We had that one cleared off the line .. I can’t fault the lads, we gave it everything.

We’ve closed the gap [to the best teams] but today shows there’s still room for improvement. We’ve said that all along. We’re still learning, still improving.”

Regarding the Golden Boot, in which he has a three goals lead over Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, he says: “It shows we had a very good group stage and scored a lot of goal. Obviously I’m disappointed I couldn’t get a goal in the last few games but that’s football. Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it doesn’t. We’ll see what happens tomorrow: if I get it, it’ll be something I’ll be very proud of.”

Full-time: Belgium 2-0 England

Belgium have taken the bronze medal, they very least they deserve from a strong campaign. England finish fourth, equalling their best ever achievement at an overseas World Cup and surpassing all reasonable people’s pre-tournament predictions. Having said that, given how the draw panned out, this was a par result. Beyond results, however, they played or at least acted with a personality that rekindled their country’s affection for their national team and that will be the abiding memory for them from the 2018 World Cup.