Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy are convinced they can thrive at international level despite their exploits for club and country potentially establishing them as marked men at the summer’s European Championship.
The pair, who have 40 Premier League goals between them this term, were briefly club-mates at Leicester City in the Championship three seasons ago, starting on the bench alongside another member of Roy Hodgson’s squad, Danny Drinkwater, in the second leg of their play-off semi-final at Vicarage Road in May 2013. On Saturday in Berlin their well-taken goals hauled England level against Germany before Eric Dier’s stoppage-time winner defeated the world champions.
“Danny showed me a picture of us three sitting on there when we played at Watford, and it is crazy,” said . “Football is a funny game and things can change so quickly. It shows what hard work and dedication can do. We have all come a long way, but it does not stop here. We have a lot more hard work to do to keep progressing and moving forward.
“Maybe I will be a marked man in the summer. Again, that is football. If you want to be one of the top players in the world, you have to deal with that. I am happy for the challenge. I want to keep working hard, to keep getting better and better and to have more nights like that on Saturday, scoring more goals for England because they are special. You dream about scoring against teams like Germany on the big stage.”
While Kane scored his fourth goal in nine appearances for his country, Vardy’s instinctive flick to draw England level was his first international return and justified Joachim Löw’s pre-match suggestion that the 29-year-old is “a spectacular player”.
“If people get to know how I play, that just means I have to go and work harder when I am on the training field,” said the Leicester forward. “I have to look at ways I can still hurt them that, hopefully, they won’t think I will be able to do. It’s down to a lot of hard work now which I am more than happy to keep doing. It’s good to have as much competition for places as possible.”
Vardy is expected to start against Holland at Wembley on Tuesday, with Daniel Sturridge operating centrally and Theo Walcott on the right.
