Harry: We feel Euro heat
Three Lions building for a big future
HARRY KANE admits that for the first time in years “England expects” at the start of a journey on Friday that could lead to the Euro 2020 final at Wembley.
Back-to-back World Cup and Nations League semi-finals have created pressure on England to perform again.
And with most of the final Euros matches on English soil, the opening qualifier against the Czech Republic is seen as a possible first step towards football finally coming home.
England captain Kane said: “We feel that expectation whereas before the World Cup there was none. The chance to play a Euros where most games are at home is an amazing opportunity.”
INCREASINGLY, under the unerring leadership of Harry Kane, England are beginning to look like a side who can deliver.
This week marks the start of a different era for the Three Lions. Having sprung a surprise with their last-gasp qualification for the Nations League semi-finals in November, they are no longer a side with nothing to lose.
In the qualifiers for the 2020 European Championship England play the Czech Republic at Wembley on Friday night before an away game in Montenegro on Monday.
Gareth Southgate has built his free-thinking, exciting young side under a shelter free from expectations but Kane believes that, even with the pressure cranked up a notch, England can carry the burden of the nation’s hopes.
“We’ve handled it really well since the World Cup,” he said. “We’re the only team who got into the semi-finals at the World Cup to have got through their Nations League group, and we had probably one of the hardest groups.
“That was big for us, to prove to everyone that it wasn’t just a one-off, that this team are building for something special in the future.
“Everyone handles expectation differently. We still have players who are very young and inexperienced in this squad, so we have to manage them and make sure everyone’s OK and comfortable with the situation.
“I’m sure the other experienced players will help those players through it. It’s down to us.
“All we can do is play the way we have been playing, and play with that freedom. The players we have allow us to do that. But we can only prove it on the pitch.
“I am excited to be at Wembley again and we have got to get off to a good start. We spoke about starting the competition well.
“Then our aim is to win the Nations League, and we’re more than capable of doing that if we fully focus on our job.”
Kane was a picture of focus at St George’s Park yesterday in a finishing drill orchestrated by attacking coach Allan Russell. While England’s goalkeepers generally got the best of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Callum Wilson and Jadon Sancho when they had their turns, time after time Kane found the back of the net.
Fifteen efforts on target; just one left-footed shot saved by the giant paw of Tom Heaton.
“It was a good day for me,” Kane said. “I feel in that zone, where if I get a chance I’m going to put it away. You go through spells like that during the season.
“It’s the business end of the season, when all the big games are, all the high-pressure situations. Two big games for England now, and then games in June.
“Hopefully we can win some silverware. If we win the Nations League, 2019 will top 2018. Of course, with the World Cup Golden Boot, 2018 was fantastic, but that was for me. The main thing is the team and we want to win things.” The session ended with a sudden-death penalty shoot-out. Dele Alli scored the winning kick after Wilson had missed, but all of the talk was of Sancho’s confident chip
that trickled into the middle of the net after Jack Butland had dived out of the way.
They are clearly a confident bunch, and there genuinely seems to be a collective spirit.
Far too often in the past England camps have been riven by cliques, Liverpool players famously refusing to sit with their Manchester United counterparts when the problem hit its low point during the Sven-Goran Eriksson era.
With the title race hotting up and Tottenham drawn against Manchester City in the Champions League quarterfinals, club rivalries are as intense as they have been under Southgate, left, but Kane insists he is keeping an eye out to ensure light-hearted banter remains precisely that.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s been good,” Kane said.
“Jordan Henderson’s getting on with Raheem Sterling, and Kyle Walker with 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, which is the international game.
“We’ve heard about things happening in the past, people sitting on different tables and teams being divided. But you just can’t have that in a team. You need to be 100 per cent together.”