Winks a link we missed
Lions skipper will learn from back-to-back KOs
HARRY WINKS has been assured he has a big future with England.
The Tottenham midfielder was a surprise omission from England’s Nations League squad largely because he missed the tail end of the season after undergoing groin surgery.
Winks was fit to play in the Champions League Final last Saturday but his presence was missed in Portugal and England No.2 Steve Holland says they are desperate for his quality in the middle of the park.
Holland said: “He is a player that we have very much been waiting for in that kind of position.
“Someone who is comfortable to turn and connect the play when we are working through the offensive phases.
“Quite simply, had he been fit, and consistently playing for Tottenham, he would have been in the squad 100 percent.
“It is just a call we have had to make at this moment. I am sure he will acquire many caps in the future.”
HARRY KANE has vowed to emerge from his week of hell for club and country more fired up than ever to achieve success on both fronts.
After Tottenham’s sickening Champions League defeat against Liverpool in Madrid, there was no silver lining for Kane as England pressed the self-destruct button in their Nations League semi-final against Holland.
It shattered the Three Lions’ hopes of a first appearance in a major final since 1966 and the striker admits Thursday night’s extra-time KO was another bitter pill to swallow.
But Kane, who replaced goalscorer Marcus Rashford at half-time, insists his double dose of heartache has fuelled his determination to avoid future letdowns.
“It hurts,” he said after his second setback in five days. “It hurts a lot.
“This week could have been so different and as a professional athlete you dream about lifting trophies.
“So it will hurt over the summer. It isn’t something you can just clear out of your mind.
“I want to win and the boys want to win but it wasn’t our week and you have to take it on the chin.
“The only thing you can do is learn from it.”
Boss Gareth Southate decided against starting from IAN MURTAGH in Guimaraes
with Kane or any of the Spurs and Liverpool players involved last weekend.
So Kane was just happy to get on. “For me, it was good to be able to play again,” added the 25-year-old, who insists it wasn’t difficult to pick himself up for the Holland game.
“When you finish on a loss like Saturday, of course you are thinking about it. Obviously it didn’t work out because I finished the season with two losses in big games.
“But as a professional footballer you have to be ready for the next one.”
That could be tomorrow’s third-place play-off against Switzerland at the same Estadio D Afonso Henriques where England lost their third successive semi-final. With Rashford struggling for fitness, Kane is likely to feature again.
England may have blown their chance of winning the inaugural Nations League, and will be on their way home by the time hosts Portugal face the Dutch in Porto tomorrow night, but skipper Kane insists Southgate’s Three Lions are still upwardly mobile.
“It wasn’t our night and we could have played better over the whole game,” he said.
“But we have got big things coming up as a nation.
“Of course we must qualify for the Euros and then we have the chance to play in pretty much a home tournament.
“It would have been easy to take our foot off the gas after last summer and be happy with what we achieved, but we got to another semi-final.
“We had a tough group and got through against Spain and Croatia and that was progression.
“So we’re knocking on the door and that is what we have got to take inspiration from.
“We have a big, big summer next year and as a team I feel we are building well towards that. And we have got to use these big disappointments to motivate and help us learn.”