Andros Townsend has claimed in his column for the Mirror that Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane is ‘everything you want’ in a captain as England look to win Euro 2020.
Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions will strive to secure their place in the final on Wednesday night when they face Denmark. Kane scored twice in the 4-0 quarter-final win over Ukraine on Saturday as he returned to his lethal best.
Kane was clinical and flowing with confidence, to pick up from netting his first goal of the Euros against Germany. But England will need their captain to keep things calm in the dressing room, as well as firing on all cylinders in attack, if they are to win the tournament.
And Townsend fully expects his former Tottenham teammate, Kane, to be that for England.
“I played with Harry Kane for two years at Tottenham and let me tell you, he will be in the dressing room keeping the England players’ feet on the ground,” Townsend wrote. “He is vocal, he is demanding, and he wants the best for his teammates, as well as himself.
“He is everything you want in a leader – he and Jordan Henderson, a Champions League and Premier League winner with Liverpool, will be the biggest presence in that England dressing room. They will be ensuring the players are not allowing all the praise to go to their heads.
“Harry and Jordan will be reinforcing it – day in, day out. Some people criticise Harry because he doesn’t shout that much on the pitch, but I know from seeing it first-hand – if he has seen something out there that needs to improve, he isn’t afraid to tell you about it.”
England need Tottenham Kane and the Kane that Townsend lauds for Euros success
England have never won the European Championship with their previous best a third-place result in 1968. The Three Lions also last reached the semi-finals in 1996 when beaten by Germany on penalties. Since then, the quarter-finals was as far as they had reached.
Now, Southgate will need the captain Kane that Townsend lauds and the Kane that scores freely for Tottenham if England are to go all the way this summer. Not all of the players will know how to cope with competing at this stage of a major tournament.
While others will know what to expect and what is expected of them from their domestic success. But to achieve something great with your country will play on the players’ minds without a leader. Especially for a country that has been starved of success for so long.
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