England captain Harry Kane has spoken about his side’s chances of winning the World Cup in Qatar, saying that coming home with the trophy is what England are “aiming to do”.
Speaking just after the 26-man England squad arrived in Qatar, Kane was clear on his team’s ambitions, whilst emphasising the difficulty of the challenge ahead.
“It’s exciting [to be here],” speaking as his side exited the Hamad International Airport.
“Obviously it’s strange knowing we’re going to be playing in around five, six days. But the excitement’s building amongst everyone really.
“Everyone’s happy to be here and looking forward to getting out on the training pitch tomorrow.”
For the first time in over a decade England come into a World Cup as strong contenders after losing out in the Semi Final and then Final of the 2018 World Cup and 2020 Euros respectively.
“Russia was one of the best moments in my career. I really enjoyed the whole experience. It was gutting to fall just a little bit short of course, but this is another opportunity for us.
“We’ve been trending well in major tournaments. There’s only one more step to take and we hope we can take this one.”
Whilst Kane was clear about England’s intentions at this tournament, he was also measured, asserting he and his team are focused on the challenge at hand.
“We try not to think about it [winning] this far ahead.
“That’s the dream, what we’re aiming to do. We’ll have to wait and see, it’s going to be a really tough tournament.
Starting Monday [England’s opener against Iran], it’s going to be a really tough game and we know that, so we have to prepare for that. But I’m just really excited to get going.”
Due to the timing of this World Cup, the 26-man England squad will only have five days to prepare for their game against Iran on Monday.
There have been questions over Kane and his energy levels of late, however Tottenham manager Antonia Conte has come out and backed his captain to be ready to lead England to World Cup glory.
England boss Gareth Southgate also spoke briefly once getting off the plane.
“For every player and every manager the World Cup is the pinnacle of world football so we’re really looking forward to testing ourselves on that stage.”
This will be Southgate’s third opportunity to lead England at a major tournament.
He too, like his captain, will be hoping England can take it one step further the third time of asking.
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