‘If you were 100 per cent, WHY would you go for a scan’: Roy Keane questions Harry Kane’s fitness despite being ready to face the USA… as Graeme Souness asks why he played another HALF AN HOUR after ankle knock in Iran win
Roy Keane is unconvinced that Harry Kane is fully fit, despite England boss Gareth Southgate declaring him ready to go for Friday’s game against the United States.
Kane suffered an ankle knock during the 6-2 thrashing of Iran that opened England’s tournament on Monday and there were fears the England captain may find himself ruled out of games against USA and Wales.
Subsequent scans came back all-clear and he returned to full training on Thursday but Keane is less-than-convinced how truly fit Kane is days after limping off.
‘If you were 100 per cent, why would you go for a scan?’ Keane said on ITV.
Harry Kane’s fitness has been brought into question despite him training in full on Thursday
Kane went down clutching his ankle following a clumsy challenge in the opener with Iran
Roy Keane (left) is unconvinced Kane is totally fit, but Graeme Souness (right) suggested that Kane needs ‘protecting’ in the tournament and should have been substituted off sooner
‘But we have to take Gareth’s word for it. He probably should have taken him off.’
Keane’s fellow ITV pundit Graeme Souness echoed the sentiment that Kane should have come off sooner, having played on for almost half an hour after first picking up the knock.
‘It happened in the 48th minute, he played for 27 more minutes, he needs protecting from himself,’ Souness said.
‘Kane is the main man, the main goal getter. That was a bad challenge.
‘The first reaction would be we don’t need him the rest of this game, let’s protect him. A top striker will be selfish, but the manager had to take him off.’
Keane added: ‘Players and coaches know, it was a bad tackle. Fingers crossed from England’s point of view that he will be OK. That did look nasty.’
Kane didn’t show any concern etched on his face during England training on Thursday.
Having trained alone on Wednesday he was beaming with a smile on Thursday as he trained with team-mates, with only James Maddison missing.
Kane, who got two assists in the 6-2 win over Iran, is a massive part of England’s team and Southgate eased fans’ fears by saying he will be good to go on Friday night against the US.
Kane returned to full training on Thursday meaning James Maddison was the only absentee
‘He is good, he has worked a little bit more individually on Wednesday but he will back in with the team on Thursday and good for the game,’ Southgate told ITV.
‘We just checked him out, just to see. I think sometimes when you are treating things it is important to know exactly what is there and that was all good.
‘It is not so much the ankle. It is more the foot. It was a poor challenge really but I think it is one that fortunately we have got away with reasonably lightly.’
England face the United States at 7pm BST on Friday at the Al Bayt Stadium.