Daily Star

Hero Harry is aiming to keep brave kid smiling

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THEY may not be England’s greatest yet but Harry Kane and Co are making a strong case to be regarded as the most likeable.

On the eve of the most important match of his career, captain Kane provided further evidence that not all footballer­s are self-obsessed, narrowmind­ed egotists.

“Sometimes, there are bigger things going on in life,” he said when asked about the heart-warming message he sent to five-year-old cancer sufferer Ben Williams.

Kane had tweeted “Carry on fighting and we’ll do everything we can on Saturday to keep a smile on your face!” after watching a video of brave Ben, who is battling a brain tumour.

Like boss Gareth Southgate, his captain appeals to the nation not just for his goalscorin­g exploits but because he comes across as a thoroughly decent bloke.

“Just inspiratio­nal,” he said of football-mad Ben’s sad story.

“We’re in a bit of a bubble here, concentrat­ing so much on the football and doing well, making everyone proud.

“Whenever we can connect with the fans, it’s great for us.

“We know we have a big influence with what we say and how we act.

“Something comes along to catch our eye now and again and that little lad was an inspiratio­n. I was happy to tweet him back.

“Hopefully that will put a smile on his face, as will going further in the tournament.”

Southgate’s men are doing their country proud. And a Kane goal against Sweden this afternoon in the quarter-final would send a nation into dreamland.

It would also mean that since 1974 only Brazilian legend Ronaldo has scored more goals in a single tournament.

Kane is on six, the same as Gary Lineker managed in 1986 when he won the Golden Boot.

“I didn’t know that,” said the Tottenham striker of Ronaldo’s record from 2002. “It’s been a great campaign so far. The job is to help the team as much as possible, with and without the ball, scoring goals or getting assists.

“Hopefully it can continue and I carry on scoring. That would be amazing, but the focus is on helping the team.”

Victory against opponents whose whole is very much greater than the sum of their parts would equal England’s best-ever run in a World Cup on foreign soil, matching their feat at Italia ’90

Kane and his team-mates are very much aware of the euphoria which has greeted every win so far and the growing sense of excitement as they move one step closer to glory.

“We’re not really thinking about being world champions yet,” he said. “We’ve got a long way to go.

“We’re only just in the second half of the tournament. We’ve done great up until now but we have another step to overcome.”

There will once again be a relatively small England following in Samara, a city almost 600 miles south-east of Moscow, but the players are being fuelled by the scenes back home. “It’s massive,” added Kane.

“We all see the videos after games. I said after Tunisia, I was one of those fans who not too long ago was getting drink thrown all over me and going wild.

“It’s what we want to see. We wanted to make the country proud and it looks like we are doing that.

“We want to bring the whole country together, and to see them enjoying it as much as they are is just fantastic for us.”

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