Doha, Dec 11 (IANS): England midfielder Jordan Henderson defended captain Harry Kane who missed a late penalty in the Qatar World Cup quarterfinal against France here.

Defending champions France edged England 2-1 to reach the semifinal against Morocco.

Harry Kane scored one penalty for England, but blazed another over the bar in the 83rd minute what would have taken the match into extra time after Aurelien Tchouameni and Olivier Giroud scored for France, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We know how many penalties Harry has scored for us, how many goals he has contributed to even get us here. He will be stronger for this in the future. He is a world-class striker and our captain, he will bounce back," said Henderson, who believed England were real candidates to win the World Cup.

"We felt good, the performances were really good, the focus and hunger has been really good. But you have to give credit to France who are a good team. I still feel it was there for us to win tonight."

"It is hard to find the right words. I thought we gave everything in the game, we were disappointed to go 1-0 down but we showed the character and mentality to keep going and find the equaliser."

"We gave it everything and unfortunately it wasn't our night," said the midfielder.