Sam Matterface under fire for mocking Harry Kane with comment after penalty miss vs France

Sam Matterface has come under fire for mocking Harry Kane with a cheeky comment of his after the penalty miss vs France on Saturday night.

Gareth Southgate’s team failed to defeat the defending champions in Doha, losing 2-1 after Kane scored a spot kick, then missed a second one in the 84th minute, sailing over the crossbar.

After Aurelien Tchouameni’s 17th minute thunderbolt broke the deadlock, the England captain had scored from 12 yards in the second half to restore parity.

@itvfootball pathetic commentary from Sam Matterface. Not a Spurs fan, but Kane doesn’t deserve that disrespect. #EnglandVsFrance #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/gr7ISSpw0t

— Ben Redding (@benired) December 10, 2022

As if anyone needed reminding how awful Matterface was he properly nailed it tonight pic.twitter.com/coBCmZcX6P

— Tom Clark (@_thomasjclark) December 11, 2022

Olivier Giroud restored France’s lead against the play minutes before Kane failed again to replicate his previous heroics from the spot.

Matterface was also covering the game with Lee Dixon, but was criticised for making mocking comments about Kane after missing the target.

He said: “They needed Gary Lineker, they got Chris Waddle,” referencing the latter’s infamous 1990 semi-final shootout miss.

This didn’t go down well with fans, who were left to lick their wounds after England exited the finals at the hands of the reigning champions.

Kane shed tears on the pitch come the final whistle but was defended by Southgate and his England teammates after the game.

Speaking to ITV, Southgate insisted: “Look for me, we win and lose as a team. We conceded two goals and missed a few chances. He’s been incredible for us, so reliable in those situations. We wouldn’t be here but for the number of goals he’s scored for us.”

“I don’t know how many penalties he has scored for us,” Henderson said. “[He] scored the first one, how many goal he’s contributed for us to get here so he’ll be stronger in the long run. He’s a world class striker, our captain – we wouldn’t be here without him.”

Asked for his thoughts on the game, Henderson admitted: “It’s hard to now, straight after the game, it’s difficult to find the right words. I thought we gave everything in the game, [we were] disappointed to go 1-0 down but the character, mentality to keep going and find the equaliser. I can’t say anymore really, we give it everything and unfortunately it wasn’t our night.”

When he was asked if England had missed a chance to win the tournament after outperforming France for the majority of the match, Henderson continued: ” Probably [a missed chance] we felt really good, performances were really good, the focus and hunger was good every single day. Unfortunately wasn’t our night, credit to France. I felt it was there to win tonight.”

Southgate said: “Well, I think the performance did [deserve better]. Goals are decisive but I just said to the players in there I don’t think they could give any more.

“I think they played really well against a top team and it’s fine margins, things at both ends that have ended up deciding the game, but I think the way they’ve progressed throughout this tournament has been fantastic.”

He added: “We were here to try to win the tournament, and we had belief we could. I think we showed with the performance tonight against the reigning champions that we’ve got a team that could’ve done that.”

England captain Harry Kane told ITV Sport: “On the night we were probably the team that created the better chances. We had good spells in the game, but as you know, big games come down to fine details and margins, and they got theirs right and we didn’t.”

Explaining what happened, he said: “No, I’m always someone who prepares for, if I get one penalty in a game, two penalties, I always have an idea of what I want to do. I can’t fault my preparation or anything like that.

“It was just the execution on the night. The first one was great and the second one, I just didn’t quite hit it how I wanted to.

“That’s just something I’ll take on the chin. It will hurt for sure, the whole game will hurt, we had full belief in what we wanted to achieve. As captain, I couldn’t be more proud of the boys.”

On his personal disappointment, Kane continued: “A World Cup is every four years, it’s not like we have another opportunity next year. “It’s a long time to wait, but as I say, I’m proud of the boys. We had a great camp, a great World Cup but it came down to a small detail – one I’ll take responsibility for.

“I’m not worried about the team and how it will affect them. I know we’ve got some great talent. “I’m sure it will hurt, not just for me but for everyone involved. But that’s football, that’s sport, you have to take it on the chin sometimes.”

Asked about Gareth Southgate’s future and the possibility of him walking away, Kane insisted he wants the Three Lions boss to stay in place. He said: “That’s down to him. We’ve loved having him as a manager, I think he’s been incredible. You see where he’s taken us from, it’s an amazing leap and I think we all hope he says.”

As mentioned, Sam Matterface as come under fire for cheekily mocking Harry Kane with a comment after his penalty miss vs France…

@vinerbrian: Think pretty much every sentient England fan agrees that Harry Kane shouldn’t be pilloried even tomorrow for missing that pen, let alone in 30 years time. So what does Sam Matterface do, he shames Chris Waddle for his 1990 miss. The opposite of classy commentary #ITVFootball

@BrendanH3: The ITV pundits afterwards talking about how they hope Kane isn’t badly affected by missing the penalty, after their own commentator has a pop at Chris Waddle 32 years after his penalty miss. Absolutely disgraceful carry on by Sam Matterface. #ENGFRA #WorldCup2022 #ITVFootball

@MattSpracklen: “We needed Gary Lineker, we got Chris Waddle.” What a pathetic thing for Sam Matterface to say in commentary after Kane misses penalty. #ITV #EnglandVsFrance

@UncleJeffThinks: Totally agree! Commentary was poor all night especially Lee ‘Mr Negativity’ Dixon.

@MikeWoodhead3: To me they sent the best commentator home In Clive and we were left with matterface who’s comments were very poor and disrespectful towards certain sports men who have achieved more than he ever will in a lifetime, Clive would never have done that because he has class !!!

@ImStoddicus: Extremely disrespectful IMO. If he never commentates on another England game it would be too soon.

@PhilThfc1: @sammatterface is the most awful commentator and ITV have been a shambles at this World Cup after dumping @CliveTyldesley

@DNieL14817326: Yeah i agree, needed abit of ally mccoist, best commentator at world cup by a mile

@gjonesy09: @sammatterface I’m hoping there is an apology coming to both Kane and Waddle as at best it was rotten commentating. @ITVSport you got the commentator appointments so badly wrong it’s laughable. Pathetic sums it up pretty well!!

@petecart75: Unprofessional and disrespectful comment

@soverncomfort: @ITVSport Sam Matterface needs to be apologising to Harry Kane. His comments after the penalty miss were disgraceful. Matterface kept making reference to past failures. Its as if he wanted it. What an absolute twat #matterface

@SFS_UK_: “They needed Gary Linekar, they got Chris Waddle” – Just a terrible, terrible comment. Matterface and Dixon are very poor. Instead of supporting Kane, Matterface chose to ridicule him. Why not turn to either Tyldesley or Champion with the brilliant Ally McCoist on co-commentary?

@fountains88: Please @itvfootball see how fans are reacting. What was said by Sam Matterface after Kane’s penalty miss was particularly disrespectful not in tune with the audience. You have to face it that he is not qualified to do this job. There are so many negative comments after each game

@DanStevens1986: Matterface is a second rate helmet

@Gary_Gowers: Kane’s penalty was shit. But still not as shit as Matterface’s comms.

@RussellDutton: Hopefully last night confirmed one thing that Matterface will be removed from the main ITV commentary team. His comment about Harry Kane missing that penalty and constant negativity was beyond disgusting. Get rid now @itvfootball

@burnhamspurs: He mentioned love train twice to describe players waiting in the box at a corner, then used a taxi rank as an analogy about bringing on subs. At least Calvert Lewin wasn’t playing, as he’d bang on about his clothing and eclectic dress sense.

@shoutingatnowt: I’m still laughing at how dismal Sam Matterface is as a commentator, I’m not a huge Kane fan but that Waddle drop after he missed the pen was absolutely brutal 💀

@foreverayellow: wouldn’t have clive tyldesley saying this

That’s a bad defeat to take.

And I honestly believe Sam Matterface saying “We needed Gary Lineker, but we got Chris Waddle” is one of the worst commentary lines of all time.

— Stu’s Football Flashbacks (@stusfootyflash) December 10, 2022

Is it just me or was it actually really shitty of commentator Sam Matterface to say, “They needed Gary Lineker and they got Chris Waddle” about the player whose first penalty kept England in the game and in doing so, equalled Wayne Rooney’s record-breaking all-time tally?

— Pete Paphides (@petepaphides) December 10, 2022

Sam Matterface: “wanted Gary Lineker, got Chris Waddle”

What an obnoxious, cowardly thing to say. Hang your head, you dreadful little man.

— James Young (@YoungyJames) December 10, 2022