Tottenham’s Harry Kane may have been looking for a break from the poor form and negative headlines associated with Spurs at the moment when he left for England duty.
Pulling on the captain’s armband for his country usually brings out the best in Harry, which he proved yet again with a goal and a fine performance against the Czech Republic.
Unfortunately, his teammates failed to follow suit, as England fell to their first loss in the qualifying campaign, throwing away a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1.
The Three Lions must go again this evening away to Bulgaria as they look to get their campaign back on track and avoid a loss turning into a crisis.
Kane has also confirmed that he will wear the armband back at Spurs when he returns, as Hugo Lloris is currently out injured.
The Spurs academy graduate spoke confidently this weak about taking on the responsibility, assessing the problems, and leading by example from the front.
Kane said (Express): “It is a long, old season for club and country ahead. There are a lot of games to be played, so there are going to be tough periods.
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“As we know, I want to win games, the team want to win games, it is not quite happening for one reason or another. I’ll assess that and as a team and I am sure we will assess that when we get back together.
“But hopefully we can win for England and that will make Friday night’s defeat less impactful.
“Then I will go back to Spurs and take that in my stride and see how that progresses.
“I kind of just take that responsibility on – I have been doing it for a while now.
“Obviously it doesn’t help when you don’t win on Friday night because it feels like you carry those losses with you and as players you want to win every game.
“But from my point of view, I’m with the captain role at England and obviously I will be captain at Spurs for however long Hugo is out.
“I have been in high-pressure situations before in my career, whether that is going through goal droughts, playing in high-pressure games or not playing well as a team.
“I am still the same person, I still try and lead by example on and off the pitch and I will continue to do that.
“It is something I will take in my stride and improve on.
“It’s great to be scoring goals but even better to be winning games. Whenever we lose or I feel I haven’t played well, I look back on my game and see what I could have done better.
“I am scoring goals but can I get more assists, create more chances?
“My England form has been good but as ever, it can be better. We will see if I can continue scoring. It has been a good campaign but important I do not stop now.
“It is normal when it is close to a home tournament that people get excited when the team is playing well, winning games, everyone after coming off the semi-final of the World Cup, everyone is expecting us to just push on, and people thinking about the Euro finals next year already.
“It is down to us to focus on the ‘now’, and that’s winning this game.
“We didn’t take the game lightly on Friday. It was just a poor performance and we got punished.
“It definitely shows us we have to be on the top of our game, especially against Bulgaria if we want to win.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
The way that Kane talks about his teams and the way that he conducts himself on the pitch screams captain material to me. I love Hugo, but at times I do feel as if he is not vocal enough and even a tad negative. I believe that Kane should be given the permanent armband at Spurs.
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