LONDON — England striker Harry Kane is being sent back to Bayern Munich to continue his recovery from an ankle injury, Gareth Southgate has confirmed. Kane won’t feature against Belgium at Wembley on Tuesday.
Kane joined up with the England squad ahead of the friendly against Brazil despite suffering an ankle injury during Bayern’s 5-2 win over Darmstadt a week ago.
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He was in the stands for the 1-0 defeat to Brazil on Saturday, and afterward Southgate confirmed the 30-year-old will return to Germany for treatment and play no part against Belgium.
Bayern will take on Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Saturday and face a Champions League quarterfinal against Arsenal later this month.
“He’s going back, he won’t be fit for Tuesday” Southgate announced at a news conference.
In Kane’s absence, England fell to a defeat against Brazil, who won thanks to 17-year-old Endrick’s first international goal.
The teenager, who is set to join Real Madrid in the summer, came off the bench in the second half and capitalised after Vinícius Júnior’s shot was saved by Jordan Pickford to become the youngest senior international goalscorer at Wembley.
“We know he’s a dangerous player and he’s followed in for the goal,” said Southgate.
“We should have defended the goal better than we did but it’s a brilliant moment for him.”
It was a disappointing night for England, who only have three more games before heading to Germany for this summer’s European Championship.
Brazil, who included 11 uncapped players in their squad, had the better chances but Southgate, who handed an international debut to Manchester United teenager Kobbie Mainoo in the second half, insisted afterwards he was “pleased” with the performance.
“We clearly don’t like losing, but I thought there were lots of very good individual performances from players who have hardly played for England,” said Southgate.
“We’ve had as many attempts on goal as them but the difference was one moment and that is the ruthlessness of football at this level.
“You’re dealing with the highest quality players and you’re going to have moments when your goalkeeper has to make a save. I thought we had moments at the other end. It was a really even game and if it had finished as a draw that would have been a completely fair result.
“There were a couple of small mistakes and that decided the game.”
