Kane vows England will write new Azteca history 40 years after Maradona's Hand of God

Harry Kane has urged England to seize the moment at the Azteca Stadium and bury four decades of painful history, with the Bayern Munich striker insisting Sunday’s World Cup knockout tie against co-hosts Mexico is “as big as it gets” in terms of atmosphere and occasion.

The Azteca is forever linked to England’s darkest World Cup memory — Diego Maradona’s infamous Hand of God goal in the 1986 quarter-final — but Kane, who met the late Argentine legend in October 2017, says the squad’s focus is entirely on the future.

“It’s an historic stadium for many different reasons,” Kane said. “A tough one to take as an Englishman after that game in particular, but it was a long, long time ago. Forty years ago now. It’s about writing our own history. We know we have the chance to do something really special in a special stadium away from home.”

Kane’s encounter with Maradona came during a Tottenham home match at Wembley, where the Argentine icon was a guest while Spurs used the national stadium during the construction of their new ground. A resurfaced video shows Maradona offering Kane tips on finishing and giving the goalkeeper the eyes — a moment Kane remembers fondly, if briefly.

“We didn’t talk about that game,” Kane said. “It’s not a game many English people want to talk about, to be honest. He was great when I met him. There was a clip of him talking about my finishing and giving the keeper the eyes. It’s quite a nice clip actually.”

England have not been at their fluid best during the tournament, but Kane pointed to their victory over DR Congo as evidence that the squad is building momentum at the right time — a pattern he believes is typical of deep tournament runs.

“I’ve spoken before in other tournaments about peaking at the right time,” he said. “You very rarely see a team come out of the gates hot and then sustain that all the way through to the end. Tournament football is about getting used to each other. A lot of us play for different clubs, and you hope as the tournament goes on those connections build even more and you get stronger.”

Kane acknowledged that Sunday’s tie against a Mexico side playing at home and fighting for their tournament lives will demand pragmatism as much as flair. “You might need to grind it out,” he said. “There is nothing better than that feeling of winning in a tough away game. It’s not about the past — it’s about what we can do in the future. We have a great opportunity to have a special evening on Sunday.”