Kane's penalty tactic draws scrutiny after England beat Croatia

Harry Kane's unusual stop-start penalty routine came under fire after England's 2-4 win over Croatia, with calls for FIFA to ban the tactic. England took the lead from the spot after 12 minutes, but Kane's first effort was saved by Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic before the penalty was ordered retaken because Livakovic had left his line too early.

Kane converted the repeat attempt emphatically, and later acknowledged that he had expected the goalkeeper to move. Former Ghana and AC Milan forward Kevin-Prince Boateng told CBS, "It should be forbidden." FIFA rules require a goalkeeper to keep at least one foot on, or above, the goal line when the ball is struck.

Kane said he had studied video and noticed Livakovic tends to step forward before penalties. Speaking to BBC Sport, he said, "When I looked at the video clips, I saw he likes to move early, so I knew there was a chance that if I did the stop, he would come off the line."

"I was 80% sure he was off the line. I wasn't 100% sure, and then obviously when the penalty was retaken, I changed the technique a bit. That is the whole reason I do that research in advance, and in the end it worked out very nicely for me," Kane added. He also noted that the retake might have been awarded anyway because Josko Gvardiol had entered the box too early. Kane said England controlled the match after going ahead and were never truly under threat, adding they could have scored three or four more goals on the counterattack.