England vs France result, final score and reaction from quarter-final – Kane penalty miss as England crash out

Like so many times before but, really, in a totally different way. England ultimately go out of an international tournament after a missed penalty from a star, but this wasn’t a shoot-out, and it wasn’t a case of Gareth Southgate’s side getting outclassed in midfield. It wasn’t even a player of Kylian Mbappe’s class scorching them.

Instead, England were arguably the superior side in this 2-1 defeat to the French, who still remain world champions. Southgate’s had chances that were as good. They had some of the better play.

They just didn’t have much luck, or – if you want to be harsh on the referee, which many will – some of the core decisions.

And that meant that the biggest chance of all – the opportunity to eliminate the highest class of side in a key game – wasn’t taken either.

The reassurance will be that England made them look far inferior to that in a fine performance. The reality that matters most is that they again went out at the quarter-final stage.

If there is a silver lining, it is that this hurts. It did not have to. There was a time when it would not have, in the not too distant past. England are out of a major tournament again, like they were twelve years ago, when performances had nowhere near matched the expectations; like they were eight years ago when they finished bottom of their group; like they were six years ago when arguably the most embarrassing defeat in their history cemented a sense of apathy around this team.

But this time, instead, England are out and it hurts, like it hurt last summer and a few summers before that too. And if this World Cup quarter-final defeat to France sparks any fresh criticism of the person who is mostly responsible for that change in energy and sentiment around England, if it perhaps leads Gareth Southgate to wonder whether it is all worth it in the aggregate and he considers calling time on his six years in charge, then the fact that this hurts again will be his greatest legacy.

Ask anyone what they expected from this meeting of the two best teams left at this tournament and you got the same answer: a game fought at the edges, won in the margins, and that if it came down to it, the world champions may just about edge it. That was ultimately the way the result went but it was not the pattern of the game and not how Southgate and his players will remember their performance. But then this was always going to require something different, something they have not managed in the past 56 years.

Kane had converted an earlier spot-kick to cancel out Aurelien Tchouameni’s excellent opener, before Olivier Giroud scored the winner with a header at the near post.

Southgate’s contract runs until the end of the European Championships in 2024 and the England manager said he will take “time to reflect” on the Qatar tournament before making a decision on his future.

No player has scored more penalties in World Cup history than Harry Kane, with tonight his fourth goal from the spot in the competition (exc. shootouts).

Gareth Southgate delivered a positive message to his beaten England players after their World Cup exit at the hands of France in the quarter-finals.

Olivier Giroud hit the winner for the world champions, with Harry Kane missing a second spot kick to pull England level at Al Bayt Stadium.

Southgate insists England could not have done any more, while also detailing the immediate conversation with his heartbroken squad in the changing room at full-time.

Kyle Walker dropped his head, opened his lungs and ran. This was exactly the type of run he was in the team to make, a fast-twitch surge the length of the field to recover his position, and yet he knew this was a race already lost. Kylian Mbappe hadn’t followed him back into deep French territory, and now Mbappe had the ball, and he was dribbling, and Walker had left his station unattended.

It hadn’t started this way. France kicked off and immediately switched the ball to Mbappe advancing down the wing where Walker met him with a crunch. As France settled on the ball in the opening forays, Mbappe lurked on the fringes, flitting in and out with little steps of deception as Walker stood warily a few yards inside, glancing coquettishly over his shoulder, the two of them conducting their own dance away from the rest.

Mbappe stayed in Walker’s sights right up to the moment he stopped looking. England advanced down the right and Walker went on a jaunt. He passed to Bukayo Saka and went on further, into the French box, looking for the return. It never came, and by the time he’d made that long sprint back to his defensive mark, Mbappe had already travelled across the pitch shrugging off Declan Rice’s lunge as he went. There he took up the attention of England’s defenders on the edge of the box as Antoine Griezmann teed up Aurelien Tchouameni to fire in France’s first goal.

The Tottenham striker converted a penalty against Les Bleus in the quarter-final tie in Qatar.

And Kane had a chance to move clear and become the outright record goalscorer for his country, only to miss a second penalty after France had taken a 2-1 lead through Olivier Giroud.

Kane’s 53rd goal comes in just 80 caps for his country, with Rooney taking 120 matches to reach the milestone.

France are the first reigning champion to reach the World Cup semi-finals since Brazil in 1998.

England’s hopes of World Cup glory were dashed by a 2-1 defeat to France in the quarter-finals.

Since England’s failure to even qualify in 1994, this was the sixth time they have been eliminated in the knockout stages of the competition, with the exception being 2014 when Roy Hodgson’s side failed to get out of Group D.

Here we look at the previous knock-out stage exits: