Harry Kane Ready To Lead England To World Cup Glory

PAUL HETHERINGTON

Harry Kane is ready to fire England into the World Cup quarter finals and claims: “I feel I’m going to score every time I go on the pitch.”

The England captain has 13 goals in his last nine matches for club and country. And with five to his name already in Russia, he is firmly in the race to win the Golden Boot. That’s despite being rested for last Thursday’s 1-0 defeat by group winners Belgium in Kaliningrad. Kane, though, insists there is a positive aspect to that as he is fit and fresh to face Colombia in Moscow on Tuesday.

The Tottenham striker stated: “My confidence is sky high. That’s 100 per cent the case. I think I am going to score every time I am on the pitch.

“That’s especially the case when balls are just dropping in for you and things are going for you. You can’t wait to get out there.

“You feel you are going to get chances and that feeling helps you find chances.

“I’m ready for everything, whether it is a penalty, a set-piece or anything. I try to practise different situations and make sure I am ready for anything that comes.

“You just want to be on the pitch because you know a chance will come.

“But the gaffer spoke to me and said the Belgium match was a chance to use fresh legs. You don’t always get that in a tournament and it means I’ll be ready to go on Tuesday.

“I am confident I can pick up where I left off because in my last match I scored a hat-trick.

“That’s how I look at it. If I had played against Belgium and hadn’t scored, maybe I’d be thinking, ‘I didn’t score in my last match’.

“Instead my thinking is that I am going into this match off the back of a hat-trick. The run I am on is great.

“It was good to finish the season strongly as I wanted to take that momentum into the internationals.”

Kane admits he is inspired by the goal scoring feats of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

He said: “Watching them is a motivation. It’s what the World Cup is all about – big players stepping up for their countries and I’m proud to be part of that.”

But he insists he is not obsessed with winning the Golden Boot, stressing: “Everyone thought I was going to play against Belgium because I wanted the Golden Boot.

“But there’s a bigger picture than that and a bigger priority – that’s to go as far as we can in this tournament. “The target is to win it and if the Golden Boot comes along with that, then that would be perfect.

“But the target is to help the team. If my goals help the team, that’s brilliant; if not, I’ll be running round, working hard and trying to get assists. That’s all I can do.”

Kane, 24, is certainly enjoying this tournament more than the Euros two years ago.

He admits: “I had a disappointing Euros. That was the case for me personally and for the team.

“I always like to set targets and give myself goals. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it on the big stage. And yes, so far so good.”

What Kane aims to do now is to continue in his scoring vein against Colombia and clinch a place in the last eight of the World Cup. Then he really will be delivering on the biggest football stage of the lot.