Tottenham and England Striker, Harry Kane, Ready for Euros

In just seven days, Tottenham Hotspur and England star striker, Harry Kane, will get to take part in the European Championship that is being held in France this year. It’s the first major tournament for a majority of the England players and they’ll all be ready on June 11th.

One would think that all 23 players in Roy Hodgson’s squad are nervous that the European Championship is set to begin on June 10th, with the Three Lions match taking place the next day against Russia. But for one player, Tottenham’s Harry Kane, he seems focused and is ready for the opportunity to show what England is all about.

The Guardian’s Dominic Fifield wrote that England will be ready for any underhand tactics that Harry Kane and his compatriots will face during this summer’s Euros.

Maybe not as egregious as Portugal’s Bruno Alves and his high-flying kick that luckily grazed the side of Kane’s head. But more along the lines of falling over too easily on soft fouls and the occasional off-the-ball incidents to wind players up.

Like what West Bromwich Albion’s Claudio Yacob did to Dele Alli before getting punched in the stomach, which in-turn saw Alli get suspended for the remainder of the Premier League season.

For Kane though, that’s just the nature of the beast during international matches. The stakes are much higher because national pride is on the line, What could be seen as a minor incident whether it’s a foul or just some small shove could escalate quickly.

"“But that’s international football and you’ve got to be ready for that.” Harry Kane said.“People are going to tread on your toes, kick you heels, pinch you. It’s part of the game. You can’t rise to it and you’ve got to stay focused.”“What I try and do is play my own game and stick a few in the back of the net.”"

LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 02: Harry Kane of England in action during the international friendly match between England and Portugal at Wembley Stadium on June 2, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

"“A lot of English players are known not to go down as easy as those from other countries. We’ll see what happens come the tournament but, hopefully, the referees stay strong.”“We know we’ve got to be a bit cuter but if the refs are on their game like he was on Thursday, we’ll be fine. I’m always someone who gets up and doesn’t make the most of it.”“Obviously international football is a bit different, it’s something maybe we can learn from and look at, and do things better, but the ref made the right decision in the end.”"

As for Dele Alli, Kane believes the young 20-year-old has learned from his incident.

"“I think Dele’s learned from that [incident with Yacob].”“He knows international football is a lot more strict than the Premier League, and he’ll be doing all he can to keep his head and maintain his cool.”“I’m sure he’ll have learned from stuff in the past.”"

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Moving on and not to harp too much on the formation issues that have seen England look inconsistent in their tune-up games despite winning all of them prior to the Euros, but it’s something that Harry Kane knows is still a work in progress.

Sadly, time is of the essence and trying to continue working on it this late with Russia waiting on June 11th, could mean the outcome might go either way.

It could be a win after successfully ironing out the kinks before the tournament starts. Or it could all go wrong because one formation doesn’t work so it’s time to scrap it and start anew on match day.

With England struggling to implement a diamond formation against Portugal after starting out in a 4-3-3 formation (or they actually played in a diamond from the beginning), Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy drifting too far wide with Wayne Rooney playing in the middle as Roy Hodgson’s preferred option at the number 10 role, obviously didn’t work like it should have.

"“We’d been working on it in training, trying different systems, and we went with the diamond but they made it difficult when they went down to 10 men,” Kane added.“They really dropped off and shut up the middle of the pitch. Jamie and I felt we had to go a bit wider to get the ball and in hindsight, maybe we should have stayed a bit closer together.”“It’s something we’ve got to learn from. The manager’s got to pick his team and his formation for the first game against Russia [in Marseille next Saturday] and we’ve got to be ready and prepared for whatever that is.”“I’m used to playing centrally, but I’m there to do a job for the team and whatever the manager wants me to do. We’ll see who the manager picks and I’ll be ready to go.”"

Next: England's Left-back Could Belong to Tottenham's Rose

Time is ticking until the European Championship begins.

England takes on Russia and although no one can predict the overall score and outcome, it’s not a stretch to think that the Three Lions don’t walk away victorious. That is assuming, England gets it right and Roy Hodgson’s plans are successful.

A loss and things get tough with Wales being their second opponent.

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