OUR GOAL MODEL
Key to Lions success is unity, club cliques don’t exist.. we’re all in this for England
HARRY KANE is confident that England have found a cure for one of the biggest problems of their recent past.
Gareth Southgate’s squad has got a heavy presence of players from Manchester City and Liverpool, who are locked in a battle for the title, while they are also in the Champions League quarter-finals with Manchester United and Tottenham.
In the past, England squads used to be divided into cliques of United and Liverpool players, with one club’s stars sitting at one dinner table and the others at another.
Former England defender Rio Ferdinand insisted those divisions wrecked their chances of being successful, but Kane maintains the current generation have never been closer, despite the rivalry for silverware.
The squad harmony was a major factor in England reaching the World Cup semi-finals last year and
Kane believes the emergence of the likes of Declan Rice, Callum Hudson-odoi (both below) and Jadon Sancho means the squad is in even better shape now.
Kane said: “Everyone looks forward to coming away with England and meeting up again. It’s a totally different thing, of course. You have a bit of banter about it, but everyone is on for England.
“When you come away, you have to give 100 per cent, so everything else is put to the side. I think that’s been part of our success.
“We’ve heard about things happening in the past – people sitting on different tables. You just can’t have that in a team. You need to be 100 per cent together.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s been good. Hendo’s ( Jordan Henderson) getting on with Raheem (Sterling) – they’ve known each other a long time – and Walks (Kyle Walker) and Trent (Alexander-arnold).
“Of course, they want to beat each other, but they’re not going to let that get in the way of what’s important this week.”
The new boys were welcomed in, with Kane telling a story about Rice’s call-up in reverse as the Republic of Ireland tried to recruit him through his Irish grandparents when he was young.
Hudson-odoi looked fearless in training, while Sancho’s confidence was off the scale.
Sancho had the temerity to chip a
“Panenka” penalty down the middle, making keeper Jack
Butland look foolish in training.
Kane said: “We had a little sudden-death penalty shoot-out and Sancho chipped his one down the middle.
That takes a bit of bottle, especially at his age, but it shows he is enjoying it and that is what we want.
“We want players to enjoy it and express themselves in any part of the game or training and he certainly has done that today. I would not do that for the rest of my career! That is what he wanted to do and it worked out well for him.
“My nanna and granddad were Irish on my dad’s side, so I had that decision.
“It never really came about as, when I started playing in the Premier League, the England call-up didn’t come too long after that. But, for me, I always wanted to play for England. That was my dream.”
Kane added: “If we win the Nations League, 2019 will top what we did last year. 2018 was fantastic, but the main thing is the team and we want to win things.”