Overview
- Before Tuesday's match Nana Kwaku Bonsam told the Daily Star he was performing a ritual intended to limit Harry Kane’s influence without causing a serious injury.
- England and Ghana played to a 0-0 draw in which Kane registered an unusually low number of touches and only one off-target shot.
- Hours after the game Bonsam said the ritual had worked and released Kane so he could score in England’s next fixture.
- Harry Kane publicly rejected the curse narrative as nonsense and stressed that missed chances are part of football and the team must respond.
- Journalists and match analysts largely credit Ghana’s organised defensive tactics for the result, note there is no evidence rituals affect play, recall Bonsam’s similar 2014 claim about Cristiano Ronaldo, and say the England–Panama game will be the practical moment that tests the viral story.