England captain Harry Kane believes the 7-0 demolition of Croatia sends a message to the rest of Europe and showed the mentality they need to finally win the biggest games as he closes in on more history.
Thomas Tuchel’s men put their familiar opponents to the sword in the Nations League clash in Rijeka, with their heavy artillery of attacking talent firing them to a memorable win.
Kane and Bukayo Saka both scored twice, Jude Bellingham scored one and made three more, while Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers were also on the mark.
The Bayern Munich striker, who is now on 89 international goals from 124 games, says the performance has to be the blueprint for how England play.
“Even when we were 1-0 up, we went for two, went for three, went for four, and that’s got to be our mentality,” he said. “When you have a certain style of playing, you can’t just pick and choose when you want to do it. It’s just relentless. It’s non-stop.
“You get four, you want five. You go and have a really hungry mentality. That’s needed to change, especially in the bigger games, in the bigger tournaments, and these games will only help us.
“We’re playing against a really good side. We can’t take this type of win for granted because it could have been a really tricky game for us.
“And it’s always just sending messages – not just to yourself, but to the other teams around Europe. I think we’ve done that again.
“We’re hungry. We’re a young team. We have players in amazing form right now, and I think everyone’s just excited to be out there on the pitch. And performances like this will only make us more motivated.”
Kane looks set to become England’s joint highest-capped player on Tuesday against Czech Republic as he will draw level with Peter Shilton on 125 caps.
And the 33-year-old also has another target in his sights as he is 11 away from a century of international goals.
“It’s coming,” he added on BBC Radio 5 Live. “It’s 89 now, so obviously, it’s getting closer and closer.
“I’m just happy to be out here with the boys and playing my part. We have a special game on Tuesday in terms of the caps, obviously 100 goals is a nice round number and it would be incredible to reach, of course.
“But you know me, you know if I get there, it’ll be about the next ones ahead of me.”
