England coach Gareth Southgate is banking on skipper Harry Kane to fire them past Ukraine in their Euro 2020 quarterfinal clash tomorrow night.
Kane headed a late clincher to add to Raheem Sterling’s opener in their 2-0 last-16 win over Germany to open his account for the tournament, relieving the pressure after going goalless in the group stages.
With their defence being the best in the tournament – the Three Lions are the only team yet to concede a goal at the Euros – it’s going forward where they want fireworks.
And ahead of tonight’s 9pm match in Rome, Southgate says: “That [goal against Germany] will be a high release for Harry [Kane] – there is no question about that.
“We cannot just expect Harry to be the one to deliver so Raheem [Sterling] has weighed in at a crucial moment and is looking electric.
“But if we can get Harry scoring as well, that is great for us as a team.
“Tuesday will have been a perfect day for Harry.”
Kane adds: “We have a vision of where we want to be and it’s not just winning one-off knockout games – it’s going all the way.
“We know that if we play to our highest ability then we should have enough to win [against Ukraine]. But it’s knockout football and anything can happen.”
Ukraine midfielder Taras Stepanenko agrees that anything can happen and is taking inspiration from Switzerland’s KO of France into the clash.
He says: “It looks like football these days can be very unpredictable, and we witnessed how Switzerland won against France.
“Our task is to believe we can win and keep going, and then destiny will decide the rest”.