England fans 'should be proud' of team qualifying for 2018 World Cup

                                      


Harry Kane insists England should be proud "as a team and as a nation" of qualifying for the World Cup after a subdued reaction to Thursday's 1-0 win over Slovenia.

Captain Kane capped a dour performance at Wembley with a stoppage-time winner to ensure England are the the fourth European team to reach next summer's tournament in Russia.

England were jeered at times by a crowd of 61,000 in the national stadium, who demonstrated their boredom by throwing paper aeroplanes onto the pitch, but the result ensured they qualified with a game to spare and extended their unbeaten record in qualifying to 38 matches, a run stretching back to 2009 in a game with no stakes in Ukraine.

Despite the unenthusiastic reaction to the performance, Kane says England should be proud of their achievement.

"We should enjoy this. It is no easy thing getting to a World Cup, there are some big countries around the world that are struggling. We should be proud as a team and as a nation," the Spurs striker said.

                                       
However, he admitted there is work to do ahead of the finals, starting with the friendlies against Brazil and Germany in November, following Sunday's final qualifier in Lithuania.

"I don't think there is just one thing, we need to work on everything," he added.

"We are getting to know each other more and more, every time we are together. We have to stay focused and keep doing what we are doing tactically, physically, mentally and see what happens.

"The World Cup is still a long way off, we have a few friendly games before then to keep working on what the manager wants us to do.

"Everyone has their own opinion of where they think we are at. We just have to keep working hard. We won't set ourselves any expectations, we will just go and enjoy it."


"It is an amazing feeling to score, no matter what the time, and it's great to go through to the World Cup. That [the timing of his goal] shows you should never give up, to keep going to that last minute. We have done it a few times in this campaign."