Hamann reverses Kane criticism after England striker's late brace rescues World Cup tie

Harry Kane’s stoppage-time brace against Congo on Wednesday forced one of his most prominent critics into a swift and public reversal. The Bayern Munich striker came off the bench of adversity — England trailing to Brian Cipenga’s seventh-minute goal — to score twice late on and seal a last-16 meeting with Mexico in Mexico City, taking his overall World Cup tally to 13 goals, five in this tournament alone.

The double also extended Kane’s record as England’s all-time leading scorer at the World Cup, surpassing Gary Lineker’s long-standing mark earlier in the competition.

Among those now singing his praises is Didi Hamann, the former Liverpool and Manchester City midfielder who had drawn widespread criticism during the group stage after questioning whether Kane could deliver on the biggest occasions. Speaking on Irish broadcaster RTE, Hamann had said: “I think he’s scored eight goals in the group stages — two against Tunisia, three against Panama and a penalty against Colombia. He’s the captain and he’s there to score goals in the knockout games. The jury’s out. I want to see him do it against France and Brazil. Whether he’s capable of doing it, we don’t know yet.”

Those remarks attracted considerable ridicule at the time. Following Kane’s heroics against Congo, however, Hamann returned to RTE with a markedly different tone, describing the 32-year-old as “phenomenal” and placing him in rare company among the world’s elite strikers.

“I think we played with some of the best strikers in the world,” Hamann told his fellow pundits. “I’m not sure whether there has ever been a striker like him, who finishes like he does. His shooting technique, both feet — not only the right foot, he does it with the left as well. It’s simply outstanding, and if you give him half a yard in the box, even with five minutes to go, when he’s a bit tired, when he has got 85 minutes in his legs, he still picks his spot, and he puts it exactly where he wants. Outstanding.”

Kane himself was measured in his response to the comeback, deflecting credit toward the squad. “I’m proud of the group, proud of the boys,” he said. “We spoke before the game about how difficult this game would be. You’re coming up against a good team who defend and watch really well. They were dangerous on the counter-attack, as we saw in that first 20 minutes.

“So we had to just grind a win out, and I thought we played some really good stuff after 25 minutes. Their keeper made some incredible saves, and you start to think maybe it’s just one of those days. But that’s where I’m most proud of the boys and myself as well — just to keep the belief.”

Kane now enters the knockout rounds as one of the leading contenders for the Golden Boot, competing with Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappé for the tournament’s individual prize.