England captain Harry Kane has released a statement following his side’s 2-1 defeat to Spain in the final of Euro 2024, vowing to “fight again” ahead of the 2026 World Cup
Harry Kane has been left “heartbroken” after England fell short at Euro 2024, losing the final 2-1 to Spain.
But he has no intention of quitting international football after a tournament where, despite his difficulties, he finished as joint top scorer.
Kane, 31, was substituted in all but two matches and was the first Three Lions player withdrawn by manager Gareth Southgate in the final, as the fitness issues that had dogged his tournament proved too much in Berlin. But the Bayern Munich star – England’s all-time record goalscorer – has no intention of stepping down as captain and walking away, vowing that he and his team-mates will “dust ourselves down and be ready to fight again” ahead of the World Cup in two years time.
“Heartbroken we couldn’t achieve what we worked so hard to,” Kane wrote in a post on social media. “It was a long tough tournament and I’m so proud of the boys and staff for getting to the final.
“Ultimately we fell short of our target and will have to live with that but as we always do we will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and be ready to fight again in an England shirt. Thank you to all the fans that believed in us and supported us to the very end!”
Kane missed the end of the season for Bayern with a back injury and Southgate has admitted the striker was struggling during the tournament as a result. However, with a number of Southgate’s most-trusted lieutenants missing in Germany, he felt he needed Kane to play through the pain.
“It is easy to say this but there is definitely a disadvantage to having a day less to prepare,” Southgate said after the final. “But we were still in it after 80 minutes. It is going to take a while to pick the bones out of it really. Physically it has been tough for Harry. He came into the tournament short on games and has not quite reached the level we all would have hoped.
“Harry has come into the tournament having had an injury at the end of the season. He’s played a lot of minutes. We’ve tried to manage those minutes as well as we could. He’s led the team incredibly well.
“We’ve lost a lot of leadership from the group with the injuries to Jordan Henderson and Harry Maguire, so a lot has fallen on Harry’s shoulders.
“He’s done that exceptionally well, we just felt that we needed pressure on their centre-backs and to have the options of a runner in behind, which was why we put Ollie Watkins on when we did.”
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