World Cup 2018: Harry Kane Issues War Cry

MATTHEW DUNN

Harry Kane has promised that there will no surrender when the Three Lions get to Russia and that at the very least England will go down fighting.

After the abject exits from the last two major champions with their tail between the legs, it is the kind of Churchillian rhetoric England needs from its captain.

And as ever, it seems, once again the Tottenham star delivered.

“We want to take this tournament head on,” he vowed. “There will be tough moments, there will be ups and downs. But for us it’s to play attacking football, and score.

“Sometimes going into a big tournament is about not losing and being passive. But for us it’s about winning the first game, second game and to take that into the World Cup

“The aim is to be aggressive and brave in possession. That’s what we are trying to install into the team.”

Kane was still finding his feet in the top flight when England suffered the ignominy of having to play their third group game in Brazil in 2014 knowing they had already been knocked out of the competition.

But he remembers all too well the shame of defeat against unfancied Iceland after playing all 90 minutes in the European Championships two years later.

“It was a down, a bad moment for us,” he said. “I’m confident it won’t happen again.

“In this team we wear our heart on our sleeve. We are proud to be here, we will work hard, be energetic.

“So first and foremost we will run around and do that aspect of the game. We have a lot of attacking flair who can do some damage.”

Potential is all well and good but ‘damage’ has been notable by its absence so far from Kane in major tournaments.

He played in all four games in France in Euro 2016 without a single goal to show for it after a similarly disappointing Under-21 European Championships the previous summer.

“That’s part of the game. But I always look at my game and see how I can get better.”

Certainly Kane makes it clear how much scoring means to him; a very different sensation, he explains, than being chosen to captain his country.

“Scoring a goal is a rush of exhilaration, you feel like you can run around the world in 10 seconds,” Kane explained. “But the captaincy is more of a feeling inside, an emotion. I know how hard the journey was so to have that respect from the manager and players are things to be proud of.

“It was obviously a special moment to be told – there were tears from mum, she likes a cry.

“It was a big smile on my face. I knew how much it meant to me and my family. “But I didn’t cry, I’m not someone who cries. Maybe if we win the World Cup I will cry.”