Harry Kane suffers World Cup horror show with awful miss after voodoo hex

A witch doctor's boast that he had cursed Harry Kane ahead of England's World Cup clash with Ghana seemed eerily well-founded after the Three Lions captain suffered a nightmare outing in Boston on Tuesday night.

With England in good spirits after beating Croatia 4-2 in their World Cup opener, Ghana's self-proclaimed witch doctor Nana Kwaku Bonsam claimed he had intervened by 'working on' a curse to stop Kane from scoring.

Sure enough, the goals dried up for England as Thomas Tuchel's side prodded and probed for 90 frustrating minutes against Ghana without scoring, forced to settle for a disappointing but not disastrous 0-0 stalemate ahead of Saturday's final group stage match against Panama.

In the closing stages of the match, Kane was presented with a golden opportunity to break the deadlock after Nico O'Reilly's header ricocheted off the woodwork and into his path, but the England captain lashed the ball over the bar with his left foot to the amazement of everyone at Boston Stadium.

Given the uncharacteristic nature of his miss, fans on social media have joked and speculated whether the witch doctor's spell had indeed worked.

Bonsam, who claimed responsibility for Cristiano Ronaldo's knee injury at the 2014 World Cup, told the Daily Star ahead of the clash in Boston: 'I am working on Harry Kane. I have shown what I am capable of before, so I know what work I must do to stop him. I am very famous for my predictions.

'I am not wishing him serious injury. It will be just enough to stop him against my country. I will do my work so that it can help Ghana.'

Following news of the supposed curse, world-famous psychic Uri Geller vowed to step in and shield Kane from any bad voodoo or spiritual interference.

He told the Daily Star: 'I will cancel it; I can do that. Before the match, I will send vibrations. I will activate all my powers, all my energy, all my know-how to stop his negative vibrations from hitting Harry Kane.'

Unfortunately, Geller's efforts to create a metaphysical shield for Kane proved futile, as the England captain not only missed a glorious late chance but also failed to have a meaningful impact on the game.

The good news, at least for those who believe in Bonsam's powers, is that the witch doctor has now vowed to 'release' Kane from the curse ahead of England's next match.

In a video shared by Nana Kwaku Bonsam's account on Facebook, the spiritualist said: 'I am the most powerful spiritualist in the whole world now I am going to release Harry Kane so that his next match he can score.

'Harry, I will come and visit you. Don't be offended. We are friends. I release this one and this one Harry Kane so that next match you can score.'

In the caption of the video, he also said: 'We are brothers, I love you soo much and I have only two numbers +233540,73,7373 and +233246076448.'

Bonsam claims his powers come from the Kofi Oo Kofi shrine and has previously labelled himself 'Africa's only Authentic Man'.

Speaking in 2014 when Ronaldo missed Portugal's clash with Ghana, he said: 'I know what Cristiano Ronaldo's injury is about, I'm working on him. I am very serious about it.

'I said it four months ago that I will work on Cristiano Ronaldo seriously and rule him out of the World Cup or at least prevent him from playing against Ghana and the best thing I can do is to keep him out though injury.

'This injury can never be cured by any medic, they can never see what is causing the injury because it is spiritual. Today, it is his knee, tomorrow it is his thigh, next day it is something else.'

Prior to facing England, the supposed power of supernatural intervention had already been a talking point for Ghana at the World Cup, as a supporter went viral for performing what many viewers described as black magic 'Macumba' rituals during the nation's dramatic 1-0 win over Panama.

With the score tied and both teams seemingly heading towards a draw, the fan passionately carried out the unusual routine, which involved chanting, pointing at the sky and blowing powder into the wind.

Not long afterwards, Caleb Yirenkyi netted Ghana's 95th-minute winner to spark theories over whether the spiritual ritual had worked.