THE FUTURE Lions with pride just like David
WORLD CUP CAPTAIN HARRY KANE
person he is. For us, it is all about being in Russia with no other expectation than to do our best.
“Hopefully, we’ll play with a freedom that other England teams haven’t had.
“All we want to do is make the country proud. We need to get the nation back with us after the disappointment of the Euros two years ago.
“What happened in France was hard for everyone to take. But with every down, there is an up – as David showed in his career.
“So I have always told myself throughout my career that the important thing is not to get too high when things are going well and not to get too low when they are not.
“Football is a game that can change in an instant.
“All I can promise is that I will do my best – and the team will do their best.”
Kane insists that the good of the team will come before his own goal-scoring instinct and personal ambitions. The England skipper insisted: “My game has always been about putting the team first.
“Obviously, as a striker, first and foremost you have to have that little bit of selfishness when you are in front of goal.
“But I would always say that if I had a team-mate in a better position, then I would give him the ball. If I was one-on-one with the keeper and my team-mate was next to me with an open goal, then I would pass it to him.
“For me, nothing changes whether I am captain or not. I make the best decision for the team – and hopefully it’s the right one. I feel exactly the same now as I did before I was captain.
“I don’t feel any extra pressure, just because I am wearing the armband.”
England face a battle to make it out of Group E with tough-looking games against Panama and some pundits’ tournament favourites Belgium following tomorrow night’s opener against Tunisia.
And Kane is desperate to make sure the Three Lions get off to a fast start in Russia to take some of the pressure off making it through to the next round where a game against Poland or Senegal looks most likely.
He added: “The first game of any tournament is huge. If we win it, then it gives us momentum.
“But if we don’t win it, we won’t think we aren’t good enough.
“Tunisia will look for an upset, but we won’t underestimate them, because we know they are a good team. We have got to be ready. We have to look to hit the ground running.
“We know that if we take three points, then we’ll be in a great position.”
England v Tunisia, Tomorrow, 7pm, BBC One