Harry Kane willing England trophy success
Monday, June 3, 2019
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"You want to bring that joy to people," said Harry Kane as he wills England to end a trophy drought at the UEFA Nations League Finals.
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On England's Nations League adventure ...
It's a new tournament, but it's still a chance to win a trophy in an England shirt, and 1966 [the year England won their only World Cup] was a long time ago. We're going to try and take full advantage. We all want to win trophies and have the experience of sharing that with the group and the fans, so it's a huge incentive. The fans are going to be out in numbers and hopefully be part of history.
You want to bring that joy to people – as a footballer that's what you want to be a part of. I think if we go on and win, it will be another stepping stone to go on to achieve big things in the future. Winning trophies breeds that mentality to go on to do more and more. So it's a chance for us to start early and try to achieve that.
On Gareth Southgate ...
He's been fantastic. Ever since he has come in, it has been about the team being together, having this brotherhood and fighting for each other, and it's been going well so far. I think the fact he's let us be free and interact and show our personalities has really helped [us to] have that connection with the fans.
As for our playing style, we play good football. He knows we've got young players who want to express themselves and play in a good way and he allows us to do that. Of course, like all of us, he wants to win, win games and competitions, so he'll be on us in training every day to try and make sure that happens.
On qualifying in style ...
Everyone knows what we did [at the World Cup] and we were very proud of that. I think we're even more proud of how we've carried that on in the Nations League. We had a really tough [Nations League] group with Spain and Croatia. That's what we wanted, we wanted to keep building for the future. Now we're in a great spot and hopefully we can do well in the summer.
In the World Cup we beat teams we were probably expected to defeat but we hadn't beaten that really big team yet. So Spain away and Croatia, it doesn't really get bigger than that. I think we proved to the fans, to the public and to ourselves that we can beat the best teams, home or away. So that should give us real confidence going forward.
On team spirit ...
We've got such a great bond and, although we're at different clubs, when we come here everyone's fully focused on here. You don't have to talk to people about switching off from club football. Everyone just naturally does it and I think the fact we've played with each other in club sides and younger England sides [means] we're all good friends.
Whether you're at Spurs or [Manchester] City or Liverpool, we've known each other long enough that we've become mates. When you come here, you just look forward to meeting up and being friends.
On facing the Netherlands ...
It's going to be tough; they've been in great form. Obviously, they've had a disappointing last couple of years, so they've really bounced back. They had a tough group in the Nations League and probably weren't expected to get through, which they did. Again, they're a team that looks like they try to express themselves and try to play good football, attacking football.
We've got to be ready for the challenge. It's going to be a very, very tough game. But again, whenever we look at teams, we look at ourselves first and see what we can do to beat them.
From a neutral point of view, it'll be a great game to watch. Like I said, it's probably going to be an open and attacking game. But hopefully we can use the experience we've had over the last year or so in the World Cup and tournaments like this to find an edge to try and get to that final. We've been through the highs and the lows, so whatever happens in the games or certain situations, we should be ready for it.