Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reuters
Reuters
Sport

Nations League triumph would better World Cup semi - Kane

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - England Press Conference - St. George's Park, Burton upon Trent, Britain - March 19, 2019 England's Harry Kane during the press conference Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine

LONDON (Reuters) - If England win the Nations League this year it will be a greater achievement than reaching the 2018 World Cup semi-finals in Russia, captain Harry Kane said on Tuesday.

England meet the Netherlands in the Nations League semi-finals on June 6 for the right to face either European champions Portugal or Switzerland in the final three days later in Porto.

"To have a chance to win a trophy in an England shirt does not happen very often," the striker told reporters. "If we win that trophy, in my eyes, it's a better year than 2018."

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - England Press Conference - St. George's Park, Burton upon Trent, Britain - March 19, 2019 England's Harry Kane during the press conference Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine

Kane is preparing for England's opening Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic on Friday and Montenegro on Monday.

England topped a Nations League qualifying group that included 2010 world champions Spain and 2018 runners-up Croatia.

Last year they reached the World Cup semis for the first time since 1990 before losing 2-1 to Croatia after extra time.

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - England Press Conference - St. George's Park, Burton upon Trent, Britain - March 19, 2019 England's Harry Kane during the press conference Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine

"Hopefully, we can win some silverware. Of course, 2018 was fantastic but, for me, the main thing is the team and we want to win things. We want to make fans happy and be proud," said Kane, who won the golden boot in Russia as top scorer with six goals.

"People now expect us to do well and before the World Cup there was no expectation, so it's great that we've turned that around," Kane was quoted as saying by the BBC.

"We're the only team from the World Cup semi-finals to have got through their Nations League group, and we had probably one of the hardest groups.

"That was big for us, to prove that it wasn't just a one-off, that this team were really building for something special."

(Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.