Three Lions striker insists team have never been better ahead of a major tournament
Harry Kane says England must embrace the pressure of being “one of the favourites” for the 2026 World Cup after his two goals secured a 2-0 win over Albania and completed a flawless qualifying campaign.
England finished with eight wins from eight, scoring 22 goals and not conceding a single one.
Kane’s brace in Tirana also took him to 78 international goals, moving him beyond Pele’s tally and further extending his status as England’s all-time leading scorer.
The Bayern Munich striker said that England must be comfortable with the pressure of being one of the sides to draw the most attention in North America.
Kane said: “I think it’s as good as we’ve ever had, I think when you look at the starting 11, you look at the players coming off the bench, we’re going to go into the tournament as one of the favourites, we have to accept that.”
England have reached the last two Euro finals and made the quarter-finals at the 2022 World Cup. Kane believes that experience, as well as Thomas Tuchel’s approach, has strengthened their position.
“We’ve been building,” said Kane. “We’ve had a great year together with the new coach and now we look forward to obviously a big 2026.”
Tuchel rotated heavily for the match at Arena Kombetare, making seven changes from the side that beat Serbia. Kane said everybody would be important next summer as England need depth.
“If you’re going to go far in any tournament you need a whole squad,” Kane said. “You need the players who don’t start to come off the bench and make an impact.”
