Euro 2020: England in better place now as compared to 2018 World Cup, says star striker Harry Kane

 

The captain of the England football team, Harry Kane asserted that his side are in a much better position now than they were before the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

The European Championships begin on June 11 and England begin their campaign against the 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia on June 13. Ahead of the tournament, Kane stressed that the players have more experience playing in the big games and know how to handle the pressure.

“We are probably in a better place. Going into that World Cup, we maybe were not sure where we were as a team, but we performed really well and stepped up to the occasion,” Kane told the official England podcast after warm-up victories over Austria and Romania.

“I feel like now we have had a bit more experience, players in the biggest games for their club and obviously players who have played in that World Cup have had that experience as well. I feel like we are in a good place. We know there is still a lot of hard work that goes into it. We do not just turn up and win the tournament,” he added.

England were defeated by Croatia in the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup and Harry Kane is among the nine players in the squad who had faced Croatia that night. England haven’t won a tournament in a long time and the Three Lions captain says he expects his side to be mentally fit in order to progress to the deeper stages of Euro 2020.

“We have not won a tournament as a country for a long time, so there needs to be a lot of good mentality along the whole way as it is a long, tough journey to get to the later stages of a major tournament,” said Kane.

Following an excellent individual season with Tottenham Hotspur, Harry Kane recently won the Premier League Golden Boot as well as the Best Playmaker award.

Meanwhile, Brighton and Hove Albion defender Ben White has been called up to the national squad in order to replace Liverpool’s Trent Alexander Arnold. The right-back withdrew from the squad the week before following a thigh injury that he sustained in England’s 1-0 win over Austria.

White was part of manager Gareth Southgate’s provisional 33-man squad and made his England debut in the match against Austria.