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Harry Kane says England can be proud of topping their Euro 2024 group but insists there is “more to come” as Gareth Southgate’s stuttering side move on to the part of the tournament “where it all counts”.
Three years on from finishing as continental runners-up, the road to the Berlin final began with topping their pool in unconvincing, and at times alarming, fashion.
England opened with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Serbia before draws against Denmark and Slovenia that ended with boos at the final whistle.
There is a negative mood around the team, but the five-point haul proved enough for the Euro 2020 runners-up to progress to the round of 16 as Group C winners.
“I think we can be proud of finishing top,” captain Kane said.
“It’s not easy in these major tournaments, as you’ve seen with other nations, other big nations, in the tournament already not finishing top, so we can enjoy this for sure.
“It was a tough game. I thought it was probably our best performance out of the three.
“I thought we definitely had more energy without the ball, we pressed better, we counter pressed better, which allowed us to have wave after wave.
“We just lacked a bit of magic in the final third, but that will come.
“Another good clean sheet, which we’re going to need if we want to go far in this tournament, that’s for sure, so credit to the boys for that.
“We enjoy it and move on to the next round.”
Quite how much anyone connected with England could truly enjoy Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Slovenia is debatable, regardless of it seeing them top their pool.
They will now not come up against another group winner until the semi-final stage, with one of the best four third-placed sides awaiting them in the round of 16.
“Whoever we get it’s going to be a tough game, as this group has shown,” Kane told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I think every group that you’ve watched so far in this tournament, there’s some really good teams, really well-organised teams.
“There’s no easy game now in this type of competition.
“So whoever it is, obviously we’ll do what we always do, prepare well, debrief well.
“And then it’s knockout football now – the important part of the tournament where it all counts, so hopefully we can build a bit of momentum going into the knockout rounds.”
England could well be facing the Netherlands this weekend in Gelsenkirchen, with Kane confident they will be able to go up a notch in the knockout rounds again.
“I think if you look at previous tournaments for sure we started to play some of our best football in the knockout rounds,” he said.
“The last Euros against Germany, against Ukraine and then Denmark, and even the World Cup against Senegal in the first knockout round, so for sure there’s more to come.
“I think always the objective to start the tournament is get through the group. You don’t want to have any mishaps and then you’re third place waiting to see what happens.
“We finished top, we’ve done our main objective.
“We can improve, we know that, but you’ve got to enjoy these moments. Major tournaments are really hard, really difficult, and to finish top is not easy.”