Harry Kane has admitted he is yet to fully get over England’s Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain but vowed to use the disappointment as “fire in my belly” to win the 2026 World Cup.
The Three Lions suffered their second consecutive Euros final defeat earlier this summer when Nico Williams and substitute Mikel Oyarzabal gave Spain a 2-1 win in Berlin.
Manager Gareth Southgate stepped down shortly afterwards and England begin a new era under interim coach Lee Carsley with a UEFA Nations League clash against Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
And Kane said: “I think we did extremely well to get to the final. I think it wasn’t an easy tournament. I don’t think we reached the levels in a lot of the games that we know we can.
“But the positive thing from that is we got to the final. Whenever it ends like that, in defeat, everyone quickly goes away and it’s back into your own life. You try to get a break but before you know it, you are back for the new season.
“You don’t fully get over it but I think you move on and you look at areas you can improve from a personal point of view and you try and implement that in the new season.
“As a team, we can take a lot of positives from the summer, a lot of positives from the last four years especially. But ultimately it is about improving and there are areas we can improve, especially in the games when we look back at the summer.
“That’s now our task as players: to try and get better. These games and the next few camps are a great opportunity to do that.
“Every defeat is different in their own way. It is tough. When you get so close to reaching one of the pinnacles of your international career and it gets taken away like that, it is really difficult. But ultimately, life moves on, you have to move on, you have to get up and go again.
“From my point of view, it just makes me even more motivated, it puts the fire in my belly to try and get back there again or in the World Cup and have a different outcome this time.”
Carsley will begin his new role by facing the country he was capped by 40 times as a player — just one of many links between the sides as Jack Grealish and Declan Rice switched allegiances from Ireland to England early in their careers.
Asked if he had any concerns over starting the pair at the Aviva Stadium, Carsley said: “No, not at all. We spoke not only to Jack and Declan but the whole squad about the atmosphere.
“We expect it to be exciting, passionate, loud. It’ll be no different to what the players are used to in Premier League games or high-level games. I think they’ll be ready for whatever comes.
“I’m not sure [what reception I’ll get] to be honest. Probably the same. But if the reception that we had off the kids outside is anything to go by, it’ll be very positive.”
Carsley also said Mason Greenwood was “not under consideration” when selecting his first England squad.
Greenwood has scored five goals in three games for Marseille after leaving Manchester United in a €31.6 million deal two months ago.
Greenwood had not played for United since being arrested in January 2022, after which he was later charged with attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault, but denied any wrongdoing.
In February 2023, all charges were dropped against him after key witnesses withdrew their involvement and new evidence came to light.
Greenwood’s sole England cap came against Iceland in September 2020, during a camp in which he was sent home early — along with Phil Foden — for breaching Covid-19 guidelines.
ESPN reported last month that Greenwood was in the process of changing his international allegiance from England to Jamaica.
“Mason wasn’t a player that we considered to be honest,” added Carsley. “I’m aware of how he’s doing [at Marseille] but he wasn’t under consideration.”