Kane explains speech plan for France after Southgate ‘put him on spot’

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Harry Kane will be given the task of firing up the players before the clash with France and will tell them they have to believe in themselves this time. The England captain says he will spend the hours leading up to the game fine-tuning his address to the players.

But he admits that when push came to shove in the semi-finals four years ago against Croatia, England lacked the confidence to go on and win the tournament. He recalled: “Looking back on 2018 we didn’t really know what to expect from the group. It was a new experience for many of us.

“We were over the moon with reaching the semi-finals but whether we had the full belief to win the tournament, I’m not sure. Then at the Euros we lost by a couple of the kicks of the ball-  but the belief has been building over the last four or five years and we enter into this tournament believing we can win.

“We are ready for this game and we are prepared, and we go into it with more belief than we had in 2018.”

Having sat the players down for their first briefing session on France on Monday morning, within hours of the last 16 win over Senegal, it is Gareth Southgate’s habit to leave the stirring speeches in the dressing room to the players themselves.

“We speak a lot during the week and I speak before we leave the hotel and then I leave it to the players,” he said. “Frankly there are lots of times when I played when the managers spoke at that point and I thought, ‘I’m ready, all you can do is mess it up for me now!’

“So I have taken that on board and it is an important point for the players to be together. So Harry does it all!”

Kane, sat on the top table at the pre-match press conference, smiled at his boss. “You’ve put me on the spot,” he joked. “I didn’t want to give away my secrets! Like the manager said, the preparation has been done, everyone will be talking in the changing room, everyone will be talking about the same messages that we have been talking about for the last six days.

“It will just be a small briefing in a huddle, I will think about it in the 24 hours before, but it is just to go over what we have been preparing for. At that stage the players will be ready, just itching to get out there and play. You rarely get six days to wait for a quarter-final so we are more than ready to get out there and get going.

“We are not here just to reach a quarter-final, put it that way. We know there are some very good teams in the tournament and we are very good team too. If we lost, we would be as disappointed as anyone. Between us and staff we have a belief and determination to be a successful team.

“We can only prove that on the pitch and winning games like this.”

One of the ironies is that it is a tactic Kane has learned from spending a decade in the Tottenham dressing room with France skipper Hugo Lloris as his skipper.

“Hugo is a fantastic leader and leads by example,” he said. “He is calm in pressure situations and knows when his voice needs to be heard, when he needs to be strong with his words in the changing room.

“I have learned a lot from him throughout my career and his leadership skills have helped me a lot when I am away being captain of England.”

Source: Read Full Article