England have earned right to be Euro 2024 favourites: Kane
England captain Harry Kane said the Three Lions "are
here to win" Euro 2024 in Germany as they aim to live up to the tag of
pre-tournament favourites in their opening game against Serbia on Sunday.
Under manager Gareth Southgate, England have come close to
ending a 58-year drought to win a major tournament on three occasions without
getting over the line.
Kane won the Golden Boot as Southgate's men bowed out to
Croatia at the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and then missed a crucial late
penalty in a quarter-final exit to France four years later.
But it was on home soil at the last European Championship
that England came closest to glory under Southgate as they lost the final on
penalties to Italy at Wembley.
Since then, the development of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden
and Bukayo Saka has helped form a fearsome attacking arsenal alongside Bayern
Munich striker Kane.
Between them the quartet scored 114 goals for their club
sides this season.
"Every tournament poses different expectations but
we've earned the right to be classed as one of the favourites," Kane told
a pre-match press conference in Gelsenkirchen.
"We're here to win ultimately and there will be nothing
better than to do that for the nation.
"There's a lot of top teams and tomorrow night is our
focus. We know how tough it was to get to the final last time.
"We're going to have to do that again and even more if
we want to do that again and hopefully one step further."
Southgate, though, warned his side will have to be
"exceptional" to beat Europe's best.
Germany crushed Scotland 5-1 to open the tournament in style
on Friday, while Spain swept aside Croatia 3-0 on Saturday with three
first-half goals.
England are expected to cruise through a group also containing
Denmark and Slovenia.
But Southgate has stressed the importance of taking one step
at a time on what he has speculated could well be his final tournament in
charge.
"You've seen Germany play the way they did last night,
Spain in the first half today. There are a lot of good teams in this
tournament. We have to be exceptional to progress through the group and have
the opportunity to go further," said Southgate.
"Our focus is to qualify from the group. When you're
trying to achieve exceptional things you have to break it down into chunks. Our
first priority is to get through the group and work from there."
A heartbreaking defeat to Italy in the final three years ago
compounded a damaging night for English football.
Thousands of ticketless fans stormed the turnstiles and
disabled entrances of Wembley in ugly scenes that marred the final.
German police have labelled Sunday's fixture "high
risk", with only reduced-strength beer available to fans at Schalke's home
stadium.
Southgate called on the tens of thousands that will travel
from England for the match to enjoy themselves responsibly.
"I expect everyone to enjoy the football," he
added.
"I've been fortunate to travel to a lot of football
tournaments and they're great carnivals and great chances to meet people from
different parts of the world.
"The whole of Europe can come together and support
their team and get behind their team."
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