Harry Kane: 'France are reigning champions but it’ll be a good battle'

Harry Kane hailed England’s maturity after they recovered from a tough opening half an hour against Senegal to book a World Cup quarter-final clash with France.

The reigning AFCON champions created a couple of good opportunities in the first half before England broke the deadlook seven minutes before the interval through Jordan Henderson.

Kane then grabbed a second with one of the final kicks of the half to put his side in the driving seat and the victory was rounded off when Bukayo Saka scored England’s third.

The 3-0 victory sets up a mouth-watering quarter-final clash with reigning champions France next Saturday.

Kane said: “The win, of course [pleased me the most]. It was really tough, knockout games are never easy.

“We've shown great maturity throughout the tournament and it was 3-0 against a really good side.

“Credit to the boys, the mentality was top from the beginning and we took our chances when they came.”

He continued: “We feel good, we’ve got good runners, we've got good players getting forwards and we were solid at the back. 

“Keeping three clean sheets in a row is really important, so it’s a really good day for us.”

It may have been two of England’s more senior players who scored the first two goals but the performances of some of the young players are likely to attract headlines once again.

Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden both helped set up goals, while Saka once again made a big impact in a game at a major tournament, following impressive performances at last year’s EUROs.

Kane said: “They were brilliant. All three of them today had big parts in the goals. That’s what we need, we've got a great mixture of youth and experience now and another knockout win. 

“Over the years it's not been easy for England. So to win 3-0, it was just a really great night.”

France won the World Cup four years ago and booked their place in the quarter-final with a 3-1 win over Poland on Sunday night, as Kylian Mbappe made it five goals for the tournament so far.

And Kane stressed the Three Lions players’ focus will be quickly switching to Les Bleus.

Kane said: “We’re going to enjoy this one but of course, our focus is going to be on that [France match], a really tough game.

“They're reigning champions, but it’ll be a good battle. We will recover nicely now and then get ready for the game.”