Published 12 July 2021 2 min read
England Men's Senior Team
Kane: 'Hold our heads high'
England captain Harry Kane believes the squad can keep on building after EURO 2020 progress
England captain Harry Kane has urged his squad mates to keep on believing and building for the future, following their EURO 2020 Final defeat to Italy.
The Three Lions suffered penalty shootout heartache at Wembley, but having reached a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and followed that with this summer’s run, Kane says there’s plenty to be positive about looking into the next few years.
“Of course, we’re all winners, we want to win and it’s going to hurt for a long time, but that’s football,” he said.
“Penalties are the worst way to lose and unfortunately, it wasn’t our night tonight.
“It’s not easiest taking a penalty under the highest pressure you’re going to face – we told everyone to stick to their process, the boys have done that and sometimes the keeper makes a good save.
“That’s what’s happened tonight. We win together, we lose together and that’s part and parcel of our game. We’ll be behind each other all the way.
“They just have to hold their heads up high [is what I’ve said to them] – we’ve come a long way as a team, broke down a lot of barriers, got to our first final in a very long time and we should be proud of that.
“Of course, we’re going to look back at things we could have done better, but that’s what we’ve got to learn from. We’ve obviously got a big 18 months ahead of us – we’ve got to recover well, get it out of our minds as soon as we can and focus on that.
The Three Lions suffered penalty shootout heartache at Wembley, but having reached a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and followed that with this summer’s run, Kane says there’s plenty to be positive about looking into the next few years.
“Of course, we’re all winners, we want to win and it’s going to hurt for a long time, but that’s football,” he said.
“Penalties are the worst way to lose and unfortunately, it wasn’t our night tonight.
“It’s not easiest taking a penalty under the highest pressure you’re going to face – we told everyone to stick to their process, the boys have done that and sometimes the keeper makes a good save.
“That’s what’s happened tonight. We win together, we lose together and that’s part and parcel of our game. We’ll be behind each other all the way.
“They just have to hold their heads up high [is what I’ve said to them] – we’ve come a long way as a team, broke down a lot of barriers, got to our first final in a very long time and we should be proud of that.
“Of course, we’re going to look back at things we could have done better, but that’s what we’ve got to learn from. We’ve obviously got a big 18 months ahead of us – we’ve got to recover well, get it out of our minds as soon as we can and focus on that.
“For sure [it feels like] a missed opportunity right now – it’s not every day you’re getting to finals, especially for your national team.
“It’s been 55 years since we last won – the opportunity was there for us, we didn’t quite take it and that’s what hurts. It’s going to hurt for a long, long time. That’s football, that’s part of the game – but we’ve got to get on with it and move on.”
The squad will be back together in September, when they resume their European Qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
And Kane is keen to see the progress seen this summer continue into the autumn.
“We’ve got to build on it – like we did in Russia,” he added.
“We fell short in the semi-final a few years ago and the aim this year was to go one step further and go all the way – we fell even shorter now but we’ve got to build belief from this.
“We’ve got a great young squad, loads of amazing players so we’ve just got to learn from it, dust ourselves down, hold our heads high and then get ready for that tournament [Qatar 2022].”
“It’s been 55 years since we last won – the opportunity was there for us, we didn’t quite take it and that’s what hurts. It’s going to hurt for a long, long time. That’s football, that’s part of the game – but we’ve got to get on with it and move on.”
The squad will be back together in September, when they resume their European Qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
And Kane is keen to see the progress seen this summer continue into the autumn.
“We’ve got to build on it – like we did in Russia,” he added.
“We fell short in the semi-final a few years ago and the aim this year was to go one step further and go all the way – we fell even shorter now but we’ve got to build belief from this.
“We’ve got a great young squad, loads of amazing players so we’ve just got to learn from it, dust ourselves down, hold our heads high and then get ready for that tournament [Qatar 2022].”
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