{"id":409068,"date":"2025-09-09T00:17:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T00:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/409068\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T00:17:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T00:17:14","slug":"england-captain-harry-kane-says-qualification-is-sometimes-taken-for-granted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/409068\/","title":{"rendered":"England captain Harry Kane says qualification is \u2018sometimes taken for granted\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas Tuchel\u2019s side head to Belgrade for a potentially decisive match, where they could move eight points clear of their hosts in Group K and effectively book their flight for next summer\u2019s tournament in North America.<\/p>\n<p>Defeat, in what is expected to be a hostile and unwelcoming environment, would open the door to Serbia, who would close the gap to two points with a game in hand.<\/p>\n<p>England have not exactly fired on all cylinders in the four qualifying games they have won under Tuchel, but, even though they are on course to qualify for a ninth successive tournament, Kane says it is never a foregone conclusion.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2.81530285.jpg\" alt=\"Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford during a training session at St George\u2019s Park on Monday \" data-title=\"England Training \u2013 St George\u2019s Park \u2013 Monday September 8th\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Mike Egerton\" data-usage-terms=\"Use subject to FA restrictions. Editorial use only. Commercial use only with prior written consent of the FA. No editing except cropping.\"  \/>Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford during a training session at St George\u2019s Park on Monday (Mike Egerton\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think what\u2019s important is that amongst the group we know what we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d said the England captain, who will move clear of Bobby Moore and into fifth on the men\u2019s all-time appearance list if he features on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know how difficult some of these games are. We know how frustrating some of these teams can be to play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo ultimately, it\u2019s about qualifying. We want to be in America next summer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes it\u2019s taken for granted a little bit. We are just expected to be there, but we know the work we put in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know the detail in every meeting, in every training session that gets us to where we are.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re focused on. We can\u2019t control noise on the outside, that\u2019s always going to be there.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"525\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"de\" dir=\"ltr\">Touchdown in Belgrade \ud83d\udeec <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jsBmCqsTyF\">pic.twitter.com\/jsBmCqsTyF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 England (@England) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/England\/status\/1965136280800661761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">September 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s part and parcel of getting to this level, and you just have to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>England laboured to a 1-0 win over Serbia during the group stages of Euro 2024 last summer and another tough battle lies ahead in undoubtedly their toughest test of the qualification phase.<\/p>\n<p>Kane knows how important victory would be.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be a big a step in the right direction,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you look at the group, it\u2019s effectively this and the Albania away game, for sure are going to be the two toughest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way the group is positioned at the moment, we know that if we win, we take a big step in the right direction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut also, from Serbia\u2019s point of view, they know it is a great opportunity for them as well to put their nose in front and go into a great position going into the next camp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we need to focus on what we can control, and that\u2019s going out there and playing the way we know we can.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2.81510556.jpg\" alt=\"Harry Kane failed to add to his tally against Andorra \" data-title=\"England v Andorra \u2013 2026 FIFA World Cup \u2013 European Qualifiers \u2013 Group K \u2013 Villa Park\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Nick Potts\" data-usage-terms=\"Use subject to FA restrictions. Editorial use only. Commercial use only with prior written consent of the FA. No editing except cropping.\"  \/>Harry Kane failed to add to his tally against Andorra (Nick Potts\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it\u2019s going to be difficult, but we enjoy these challenges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s part and parcel of qualifying for the biggest tournament in the world, and we look forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kane had just 12 touches and two shots as he was frustrated by a packed Andorra defence in Sunday\u2019s 2-0 win and has attracted criticism.<\/p>\n<p>But the Bayern Munich striker said: \u201cFrom a striker\u2019s point of view, I want as many balls in the box, and hopefully I can get on the end of a few of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy role under the manager isn\u2019t specific, each game will change a little bit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUp until the game a couple of days ago, I was able to kind of get on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a striker, you\u2019re happy to help the team, but as always, you\u2019re looking at areas to improve and I still feel like as a team we can get better at breaking down those low blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thomas Tuchel\u2019s side head to Belgrade for a potentially decisive match, where they could move eight points clear&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-409068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115171468590989747","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}