England vs Colombia, World Cup 2018: Harry Kane, the king of calm, keeps his head on the biggest stage

Even when seemingly injured, Kane had the cool head to score when his team needed it most

The last words Gareth Southgate had said as he left the field were for Harry Kane. Perhaps one day we will know what they were, but for his tiring captain who had come so close to being England’s match-winner, it appeared to be less of a case of tactical tweaks and more motivational rousing. Hold on, Harry.

15 minutes remained. Quarter of an hour of extra time in a knockout game of a World Cup and Kane could barely run, but there was no way the England skipper was coming off. He had scored a penalty already to put England ahead, cruelly cancelled out at the death by Yerry Mina’s towering header, and he was sticking around to take another if it came to it.

After a curious 90 minutes in which tempers ran high, bubbled over and simmered back down again, we had an extra 30 minutes that could be split almost down the middle into England holding on and then the same for the Colombians.

Even as England began to re-take the initiative in the second period of extra time there was clearly something wrong with Kane, withdrawn to an almost number 10 role and trying to play the killer passes rather than get on the end of them. On more than one occasion a teammate went to pass to Kane only to turn away for fear of putting him in trouble.

And so after waiting three minutes and twenty-six seconds to take his second-half penalty, he would only have to wait 15 to bury the first in the shootout.

If his shootout penalty had shown a resolute confidence in his abilities, given he was forced to be a passenger for so long, his first had shown that most British of qualities and one that embodies Kane - calmness.

On an evening this needlessly feisty, in a game so bitty and bitter and wild, what was needed in what for so long had seemed as if it would be its most decisive moment, was his cool, cool head. It wouldn't turn out to be decisive and yet it remained telling, a man on fire but with ice running through his veins.

Holding the ball, wandering around and gathering his thoughts, Kane was in the middle of a storm.

From when England's penalty was awarded in the 54th minute after he had been wrestled to the ground it was almost exactly three more that the ball was in Kane’s arms, and around him were yellow shirts screaming and remonstrating, red shirts pushing and pulling while a black shirt struggled.

As referee Mark Geiger flailed in a hornet’s nest of professional footballers, desperately trying to work out who had stung who, Kane breathed deeply.

Even after those three minutes had passed, there were twenty-six more seconds with the ball on the ground, sat on the penalty spot that had been deliberately scuffed by Colombia’s Jefferson Lerma.

But then there was calm. David Ospina waited as long as he could but eventually had to bite, diving low and right. Kane slightly adjusted his strike to clip the ball home around waist-height and as it rippled the net, the calmness exploded into celebration.

Nearly two hours later, approaching midnight and with an unseasonal chill in the Moscow air, the Tottenham man was no longer in a mood for waiting.

Taking England’s first shootout penalty, Kane strode up to the ball and delivered.

In a game in which momentum swayed and danger reigned like a boat tossed around in a storm, the coolest of heads helped secure the most crucial of shootout victories.