Kane is passed fit for clash with USA

ENGLAND boss Gareth Southgate has confirmed captain Harry Kane will return to training on Thursday ahead of the World Cup clash with the United States tonight after his ankle scan came back all clear.

Kane suffered a knock to his right ankle after a clumsy challenge by Morteza Pouraliganji in England’s 6-2 win against Iran on Monday - the national team’s biggest ever win at the start of a major tournament.

The Spurs striker, who has a history of ankle problems, did play on for 25 minutes but was seen limping after the game and went for a precautionary scan.

But the 29-year-old received the green light to train on Wednesday, with the official England Twitter account sharing a photo of him in training accompanied by the caption “skipper” and a fist emoji.

Kane trained with the group again yesterday at the Al Wakrah Sports Complex ahead of tonight’s clash with the USA.

“He is good, he has worked a little bit more individually on Wednesday but he will back in with the team on Thursday and good for the game,” Southgate said. “We just checked him out, just to see. I think sometimes when you are treating things it is important to know exactly what is there and that was all good.

“It is not so much the ankle. It is more the foot. It was a poor challenge really but I think it is one that fortunately we have got away with reasonably lightly.”

Kane has had seven separate ankle injuries during his career all of them sustained while playing for Spurs - so there was natural concern when Kane went down.

Asked whether he has been holding his breath, Southgate added: “No, I was when he went down on the pitch! But once he carried on playing everything has been good.”

Harry Maguire came off against Iran feeling unwell but was involved in England training yesterday.