Harry Kane on his Euros struggles: No excuses, I was fit enough
Harry Kane has refused to use fitness as an excuse for his below-par performances at Euro 2024 and insists he was in “good shape”.
The England captain, who will earn his 99th cap when he leads the team out against Ireland on Saturday, struggled physically in Germany, according to Gareth Southgate in his final interviews as manager, but Kane says there were no injury issues.
Despite sharing the Golden Boot with three goals, Kane was below his best, which he put down to a slump in form rather than a hangover from a back injury suffered towards the end of the domestic season with Bayern Munich.
“There was a lot of talk during the Euros about me and my condition but, like I said then, I felt in good shape,” said Kane. “Did the games go the way I wanted? No. But there were a lot of us who felt below par in terms of individual performances – me included – and we did extremely well to get to where we got to which was down to our team spirit and cohesion we created over the years.
“We were winning games and getting through but we knew we weren’t playing as well as we have in other tournaments or games leading up to the tournament. We struggled to find a bit of rhythm and consistency throughout and then, as you get to the knockouts, it’s such fine margins all you’re thinking about is how to get through to the next round.
“When it does not go the way you wanted it to go, there is always something to look for and someone to blame but I feel good, I have come back in a good place and I have started the season well.”
Not content with a century
Kane has started the season with two goals in three games for Bayern and he expects Lee Carsley, the interim manager, to look at the areas England can improve upon from the summer when they drew two group games and were seconds away from being knocked out by Slovakia in the round of 16.
The 31-year-old is in line to reach a century of caps when Finland arrive at Wembley on Tuesday, joining the likes of Bobby Moore, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney in the century club.
“To represent your country 100 times is a great achievement. I love playing for my country and representing England so if it is Tuesday night, at Wembley, it will be amazing,” Kane said. “Hopefully, we can celebrate that in the next camp. As always, 100 will be great but it will be on to the next one and see how many I can get.”
Kane plans to carry on as long as possible, copying the example of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored his 900th career goal this week at the age of 39. Kane’s fitness could be tested again ahead of the next World Cup as Bayern are in the Club World Cup at the end of the season, which means he will have barely any rest before 2026.
‘Players have to get used to schedule’
“It is a question which is getting asked more and more in terms of football and the scheduling and how many games we play,” Kane said. “It will be even more difficult now with the Club World Cup because we will pretty much be going all year round, back into the next season leading into the next World Cup. You have to learn and adapt to the situations as you go along.
“From a personal point of view, I will always try to adapt and learn from different occasions and different tournaments, always learning from my body to get into the best shape possible but, ultimately, it is something players have to get used to and I have had to get used to that over the years, playing in the major tournaments.”
Kane is the only survivor from the 2016 team who were humiliated by Iceland at the Euros, with manager Heimir Hallgrímsson now in charge of Ireland. “I think we have come a long way, for sure,” Kane added. “We have proved that in the tournaments since 2016 so, as always, we are looking to improve and get better. We have come extremely close to winning major tournaments, especially in the last four years.”