On winning England

“I can do that, but we can all do that. In training it happens all the time. We want to push ourselves.

“Someone can make mistakes, or give the wrong ball, but effort is the most important thing. There is no excuse not to run about and give your all.”

Asked whether it was emotional to learn he would lead his country in Russia, he added: “Yes, it was. Tears from mum, she likes a cry. It is obviously a special moment.

“You grow up and you think of these things and you never know if you are going to achieve them.

“A lot of fans see the end product, they see you doing well, but they don’t see the struggles and hard times along the way. But the mums, dads and fiances do.”

Kane himself did not cry, but he has not ruled out future waterworks.

“I’m not someone who cries. Maybe if we win the World Cup I will cry, but it was a big smile on my face. I knew how much it meant to me and my family.”

And while captaining his country will be special, a World Cup goal would be only more welcome.

Kane was just beginning to break into Tottenham’s first team at the time of Brazil 2014 and his experiences of international tournaments since then are best forgotten.

Kane finished goalless as England were eliminated in the group stages of 2015’s U-21 Euros.

A year later, at Euro 2016, Kane failed to find the net again. His individual display in the last-16 defeat to Iceland was his worst of the tournament.

“It was a down, a bad moment for us,” he said of that night in Nice.

“I’m confident it won’t happen - I won’t say 100% it won’t happen because you never know in football, but I think in this team we wear our heart on our sleeve.

“We are proud to be here, we will work hard, be energetic. So first and foremost we will run around and do that aspect of the game. We have a lot of attacking flair who can do some damage.”

On his personal goal record at international tournaments, Kane added: “It’s something I want to change, hopefully this summer. I’ve always felt you go through spells. The ball goes in, sometimes it doesn’t – like August every year for me. That’s part of the game.

“But I always look at my game and see how I can get better. So that’s big tournaments. Obviously that’s only one for me but there is the U-21s as well. But I want to score in tournament football and that’s what I will try to do.” – The

Independent