Harry Kane says England can be proud of qualifying campaign despite closing draw
England’s Harry Kane applauds the fans after the Euro 2024 qualifier in Skopje (Nick Potts/PA)
Harry Kane insisted England should be proud of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign despite a flat end to the year with a 1-1 draw in North Macedonia.
England topped their group, finishing six points ahead of Italy, to book their place in Germany with two games to spare.
Kane told Channel 4: “Difficult game, we knew it would be and it was tough against a decent side playing on a pitch that is difficult to play our style of football on.
“We went 1-0 behind against the run of play with a soft penalty. It was good to get on the pitch. It was important for us to get a goal back and a shame we couldn’t get a second.”
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England equalised seconds after Kane came on as a substitute and pressured Jani Atanasov into scoring an own goal.
“I’m pretty sure it was an own goal,” he added. “If anyone was going to get a second it was us.
“We can be really proud of how the qualifying campaign has gone.”
Kyle Walker captained England from the start, with Manchester City team-mate Rico Lewis making his debut a day before his 19th birthday.
“I think after the qualifying we’ve had it was always going to be tough here but we dug in and got a point,” Walker told Channel 4.
“It’s football. It’s been a short week, two games when we’ve already qualified. It’s no excuses, we know we should be taking three points from here but it’s something to work on for the future.”
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