Trump hails Kane as 'GREAT' after England's dramatic 3-2 World Cup win over Mexico

Donald Trump offered an unexpected endorsement of Harry Kane on Saturday, posting on Truth Social to call the England captain a “GREAT player” minutes after the final whistle of England’s 3-2 World Cup victory over Mexico at the Estadio Azteca.

Kane was central to one of the tournament’s most dramatic results, converting a penalty to make it 3-2 after Anthony Gordon was fouled, and setting up Jude Bellingham’s second goal with a selfless square pass when he could have shot himself. The win sends England into a quarter-final against Norway.

“Harry Kane of England is a GREAT player!!!,” Trump wrote, in a post that carried his characteristically emphatic punctuation.

The 32-year-old was substituted late in the match for Morgan Rogers as England absorbed a final Mexican push, but his evening did not end quietly. In a post-match pitch-side interview with the BBC’s Kelly Somers — conducted while his teammates serenaded fans with Oasis’s ‘Wonderwall’ — Kane’s voice cracked and squeaked repeatedly, prompting him to admit “I can’t even talk.” Back in the studio, host Kelly Cates said the exchange would “go down in history”, while pundit Wayne Rooney called it “the best interview I’ve ever seen”.

What precisely prompted Trump’s post is open to interpretation. Kane’s performance was the obvious catalyst, but the timing — coming just after Mexico became the second co-host nation eliminated in the last 16, following Canada — may also have been a factor, given the president’s long and complicated relationship with Mexico and its president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

Trump had been expected to be a prominent presence at this World Cup, underpinned by his well-documented alliance with FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Yet he has so far attended no matches, a conspicuous absence given the tournament is being co-hosted on American soil. He is scheduled to present the trophy at the final on 19 July.

According to the New York Times, Trump also made a more direct intervention on Sunday, personally calling Infantino — though the source article was truncated before the full details of that conversation were reported.