On July 2, CEST time, in the Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup, England secured a place in the quarterfinals after beating the Democratic Republic of Congo in a thrilling comeback victory, with Kane scoring a brace. Following the match, England star Walker published an article in The Sun, sharing his thoughts on the game:

Walker's Article

I honestly don't understand how people normally watch England matches.

As a fan, it's been a long time since I experienced a knockout match like this one.

Usually, I'm the one playing on the pitch. Believe me, it's much easier out there. You don't have time to get lost in your emotions because you have to focus 100% on the match the entire time.

But when you're sitting in the stands, with your kids next to you also hoping England wins, you can't control anything and can only watch helplessly. Your emotions are completely at the mercy of what others are doing on the pitch.

It's completely different from being a player. I've been through similar situations, mainly at Man City. When we desperately needed a result in the final minutes, there's always been a key player who stepped up to score the crucial goal.

It reminds me of the match four years ago when we won the Premier League title at Aston Villa's home ground – Kevin De Bruyne seemed to have no chance of touching the ball, but he burst forward one more step to win it back, and then Ilkay Gündogan instinctively understood the space at the far post, and everything after that became history.

But as a member of the England squad, my memories are usually filled with regrettable moments when we couldn't overcome adversity.

This is the first time since the 1966 FIFA World Cup final that the Three Lions have come from behind to win a World Cup match – that's incredible.

Our performance in this match wasn't the best, but what matters is that we successfully progressed to the next round.

Was I scared? Of course. We were trailing 0-1, and Congo's goalkeeper was simply outstanding.

He made some incredible saves that seemed impossible. However, for Kane's first goal, he could have handled it a bit better.

But for Kane's second goal, even if you put two goalkeepers on the goal line, it wouldn't have made any difference – that shot was simply too good.

I've seen him score similar goals for Tottenham against Arsenal before: he looks like he has no space to shoot, but he still finds the top corner.

And tonight's goal clearly meant more because it directly sent his country into the next round.

That's incredible – that's your Kane.

Over the past two matches, Bellingham's performances have been extremely impressive, and Kane's goals might not have lived up to his own expectations – but tonight, he stepped up and proved himself with a brace.

Regarding Congo's goal, I experienced the same situation that Djed Spence faced. Guardiola always says that everyone gets drawn to the ball when defending because we all love football too much.

At that moment, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guéhi both lost their positions, and Spence had to fill in and mark the opposing attacker – that was actually the right decision.

Then people will ask, could Pickford have done better? But as Joe Hart mentioned in his commentary, Pickford's entire body weight had shifted to the left.

You can see his body leaning left, anticipating a curled shot. But the attacker went the other way, and it's incredibly difficult for him to make a second jump and dive to the right.

I won't pretend and say England played perfectly in this match – clearly we didn't. But did we create significantly more clear-cut chances than we did against Panama? Absolutely.

The substitutions in this match worked brilliantly. Bukayo Saka's form has been somewhat inconsistent this season, but I've always believed that quality shines through. As long as he gets a few minutes on the pitch to find his rhythm and feel, he can immediately regain his form and play at his best. If he can perform at the level he's shown for Arsenal over the years, that would certainly be a huge boost for the England squad.

To come from behind and secure a victory after going down, the players must have felt an enormous sense of relief when leaving the pitch. You can imagine how much negative media coverage would have flooded in if they'd lost today.

I know there have been media comments about Tuchel shouting at players from the sideline, but the players' reactions to it are actually quite different. If it were me, those words would go in one ear and out the other, quite simply because there's too much to focus on during a match.

However, the head coach was clearly very emotional. He's under no less pressure than the players – he simply wants to convey his tactical intentions to them.

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