'We should be proud' - Harry Kane praises England's thrilling fightback against Germany
27 September, 2022
Captain Harry Kane was full of praise for England after their last game before the World Cup produced a stunning 3-3 Nations League draw against Germany at Wembley.
The Three Lions were seemingly down and out at 2-0 down, and manager Gareth Southgate was facing a barrage of criticism, until a brilliant fightback saw goals from Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and Kane put the home side in front.
A famous victory was denied when goalkeeper Nick Pope's mistake gifted Kai Havertz his second goal of the night, but Kane remained upbeat as England prepare for the finals in Qatar.
The captain, who has now scored 51 goals for his country, said: "I am proud of the boys and now we have a busy six weeks or so before we get ready for the World Cup.
"It was a lot better. I thought we played really well, we were unfortunate to go 2-0 behind, it was a mistake and then a great goal from the edge of the box. "We did really well to stay in the game, to get back into it, get into the lead and then unfortunately another error. The mentality and fight of the team was out there. We didn't get the win but we can be proud of what we did and it puts us in a good place ahead of the World Cup.
"We're going to have to be ready come the start of the tournament. Major football tournament is different to any other football you play for England. The pressure is high and the concentration has to be high and I feel like we respond well to that.
"We've upped our game as we've gone along in the last two major tournaments. We dust ourselves down, we know we have to improve, but we'll go away with our clubs and hopefully everyone goes away fit, strong and is ready to come back in November."
England will head to Qatar on a six-game winless run, but eased some of the pressure on Southgate with their resolute second-half display.
The Three Lions had already been relegated from the Nations League top tier and Southgate's faith in Harry Maguire backfired for two German goals early in the second half.
Maguire has been publicly backed by the England manager despite being dropped at club level by Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.
Ilkay Gundogan slotted home the opener from the penalty spot after Maguire had gifted possession to Jamal Musiala and then chopped down the Bayern Munich midfielder.
Havertz then curled brilliantly into the top corner after Maguire was dispossessed in the German half.
England had failed to score from open play in any of their opening five games, but two goals in three minutes completely changed the atmosphere around Wembley and the scrutiny on Southgate's position.
Shaw was also restored to the starting line-up despite his lack of game time at Manchester United and started the fightback by volleying in at the back post.
Moments later, two of Southgate's substitutes combined to deadly effect as Bukayo Saka set up Mount to curl home.
Kane looked to have completed the turnaround from the penalty spot seven minutes from time after Nico Schlotterbeck's challenge on Jude Bellingham was punished following a VAR review.
Yet, there was more drama to come as Pope spilled Serge Gnabry's shot and Havertz pounced on the rebound to snatch Germany a point.
Southgate preferred not to focus on the mistakes, saying: “I think as a group they’ve really come together this week, they’ve grown. This week we’ve learned a huge amount.
“A couple of errors have cost us the goals but they played with terrific spirit and a belief that we haven’t shown in the last few games.”
Source: www.thenationalnews.com