A press room on its feet
The journalists clapped. That doesn’t happen often at an England media day, but Harry Kane got a round of applause on Wednesday when he sat down for his pre-match press conference, his first in an England shirt since being named the best player in the world.
Then he spent most of the session talking about what he hasn’t won.
Kane is set to win his 126th cap against Croatia at Wembley on Thursday night (7.45pm UK), which will make him England’s outright record appearance maker. Thomas Tuchel has already confirmed he will start and wear the armband. The plan is for the Ballon d’Or to be shown to the home crowd on the same night.
“To win a team trophy with England, a major trophy, is my biggest dream,” Kane said. “A European Championship or a World Cup, or both, hopefully, but I know how difficult that is.”
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Ten years without silverware, and what came after
For a long time, the knock on Kane was simple. Goals everywhere, medals nowhere. He spent ten full seasons in Tottenham’s first team without lifting a trophy. Bayern Munich changed that: two straight Bundesliga titles and a German Cup.
He doesn’t pretend the wait was painless. “It was tough in those moments when you feel you’re performing well and putting up great numbers but not winning,” he said. He also thinks it pushed him. Going into season after season empty-handed made him hungrier, in his words, and took him to a level he might not have reached with early success.
The first trophy in Munich, he admitted, felt like a weight off. The target now is far bigger. “Hopefully by the end of my career I’ll have 20-plus trophies and those first 10 years might not be spoken about as much.” With Bayern, the one that’s missing is the Champions League.
Tuchel wants the focus back on the pitch
Tuchel called it “a beautiful occasion” but was clear that Croatia is not a friendly. He wants his captain to absorb the emotion quickly and be sharp once the ball starts rolling.
The England coach also tried to describe what makes Kane different. Lionel Messi reinvented the false nine as a dribbler, Tuchel said, while Kane drops deep and hurts teams with his passing before arriving in the box for the finish. “That’s why he got the biggest individual award in the game.”
England go to Spain on Sunday after the Croatia game.
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