Saturday 4 June 2016 09:18, UK
England striker Harry Kane has urged referees to "stay strong" in the face of theatrics at the upcoming European Championship in France.
Kane was the victim of a brutal challenge from Portugal defender Bruno Alves during the 1-0 victory at Wembley on Thursday evening.
The Tottenham forward was praised for electing to play on after the incident, rather than make an attempt to get the centre-back sent off by over-reacting to the challenge.
The 22 year-old's honesty was rewarded when Italian official Marco Guida produced a straight red card for Alves and Kane has urged other referees at this summer's tournament to similarly reward fair play.
"I'm always someone who always gets up and doesn't make the most of it," said the striker.
"It's good that the ref stayed strong. Other refs might have thought it wasn't as bad as it was and maybe given him a yellow but it was a sending off at the end of the day."
Kane's Tottenham team mate Eric Dier has previously stated that English players need to be more "streetwise" with their play.
But Kane says the culture of football in England is different to the rest of Europe, where over-reacting to tackles is a widely-accepted part of the game.
"I know what Dier means but I think a lot of English players are known not to go down as easy as (players from) other countries," Kane said.
"We'll see what happens come the tournament but hopefully the refs stay strong.
"We know we've got to be a bit cuter but if the refs are on their game, like they were here, we'll be fine."
Portugal's experience defender Ricardo Carvalho also appeared to push Dele Alli in an attempt to provoke the 20 year-old, who was banned for three-matches earlier in the season for a punch on West Brom's Claudio Yacob.
England captain Wayne Rooney was memorably sent off for a stamp on Carvalho in the 2006 World Cup but Kane doesn't expect a repeat from Alli at this summer's tournament.
"I think he's learned from that," said Kane, speaking about the Yacob incident.
"He knows international football is a lot more strict than the Premier League, he'll be doing all he can and I'm sure he'll be keeping his head and keeping his cool.
"That's international football, you've got to be ready for that.
"People are going to tread on your toes, kick you heels, pinch you. It's part of the game. You can't rise to it, you've got to stay focused and what I try and do is play my own game and stick a few in the back of the net."
England open their tournament against Russia in Marseille on June 11 before facing Wales and Slovakia in their remaining Group B fixtures.
