England U21s at Odds with Harry Kane in Euro Opening-Day Defeat to Portugal

There was one moment in Thursday night's England vs. Portugal Under-21 European Championships game in which Harry Kane looked like the striker who had taken the Premier League by storm last season. 

When the Tottenham Hotspur goalscorer picked up the ball in the 34th minute, he turned with absolute ease and unleashed a thunderous, curling effort that stung the gloves of Jose Sa from around 25 yards out. This was the striker around whom Gareth Southgate had built his team this summer and the one who would win games for his country.

Unfortunately, that was really all we saw of Kane on the night, as England stumbled to a 1-0 defeat to Portugal in an evenly contested match between two of the tournament's most well-regarded sides. 

It was the wide midfielder Joao Mario who grabbed the all-important goal for Rui Jorge's side in the 57th minute when Bernardo Silva found himself with time and space in the box only to smash a shot off Jack Butland's post. Mario, who was standing on the far post unmarked, then happily tapped the ball into an empty goal.

Yet the move that led to the goal was one that Portugal had practised a dozen times in front of a structured, defensive English side. From the first moment, Silva, Mario and the highly touted William Carvalho threw themselves at England's defence. It was a far cry from what was happening down the other end of the pitch.

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Jorge's side was one that was clearly built for one purpose—to score goals—and that contrasted with the sober heads of England for the full 90 minutes. 

Although Southgate's side started brightly with Nathan Redmond down the right, Jesse Lingard down the left and Tom Carroll through the middle all causing problems, each attack seemed to come to a halt whenever the midfield tried to link up with their lone striker. Kane was either too deep or stuck receiving the ball on one of the flanks. 

Against a superior Portugal side, Southgate was perhaps right to set his team up deep and hard to beat—a system that frustrated their opponents for 57 minutes on the night—but the one downside to such a tactic was the manner in which it isolated their key player.

Looking at Kane's 45 touches throughout the match (via Whoscored.com), we can see that the forward was often forced to come much deeper than preferred just to pick up the ball. Whether down his more preferred left side or on the edge of the box, the Spurs striker spent much of the game outside of the box and in turn away from causing havoc for the Portugal defence. 

Whoscored.com

Southgate tried to combat this just after half-time when he brought on the more attack-minded Will Hughes for James Ward-Prowse, who had spent much of the game picking out passes from the safety of his own half.

Hughes was indeed far more direct in his play, but England never felt the urge to throw bodies forward until Danny Ings and Alex Pritchard both came on after the initial goal. By this point Portugal were more than happy to sit back and hit their opponents on the break.

Kane certainly could have done a lot more. His touch was sloppy, his passing was rarely creative and the few genuine chances he did have were always fired directly at the 'keeper, but he should have never been asked to perform on the night in spite of the system and team-mates around him. 

In a tournament that has seen Germany, Italy and even hosts Czech Republic drop points, a 1-0 defeat to favourites Portugal will hardly make waves among those in Prague for the international tournament.

England face a galvanised Swedish side on Sunday before what may be a play-off for the next round next Wednesday. Southgate's team will take confidence in the fact that the toughest opponent in their group is now behind them, but some lingering thoughts may continue asking just what could have been if they'd gotten the best out of their target man. 

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