Harry Kane wants England's older stars to help fresh-faced squad maintain momentum

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Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP2 September 2020

England captain Harry Kane says the new-look squad must maintain their pre-lockdown momentum when they return to action for the first time in 10 months this weekend.

The Three Lions are preparing for a double-header of Nations League qualifiers against Iceland on Saturday and Denmark three days later, with their last game the 4-0 win over Kosovo.

Gareth Southgate and his squad have just six Nations League qualifiers and a handful of friendlies before the start of the delayed European Championship in June but the manager has named a number of fresh faces in his squad.

Jack Grealish, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Conor Coady, Kalvin Phillips, Mason Greenwood, Dean Henderson and Phil Foden could all win their first caps in Reykjavik or Copenhagen, while Southampton’s Danny Ings is back in the squad after a five-year absence.

Kane is wary of wasting the momentum built since the 2018 World Cup where his side reached the semi-finals.

“It’s an important game,” Kane said of England’s first meeting with Iceland since being dumped out of Euro 2016 by the Islanders. “It’s strange because it will be our first game of the season.

“It’s important we’re up for it. I was playing in that game when we lost in that knockout stage. We’ve grown a lot as a team since then, we had a good World Cup, a good Nations League and the strength of our team is really good.

“It’s been building for a couple of years now and it’s important to keep the momentum we have with the national team. We got back a real connection with the fans at the World Cup and continued that at the Nations League.

“It’s important the older players like myself who’ve experienced the ups and downs tell the younger lads how important it is to keep the momentum because it can easily be taken away. We’ve got an amazing team and it’s important we show that.”

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Kane is yet to feature for Tottenham in pre-season after being forced to quarantine for 14 days on his return from holiday. But the 27-year-old is expected to start both matches, amid competition from Ings and Greenwood.

Ings’s only England appearance was against Lithuania in October 2015 and says he has kept the cap at home for inspiration.

“Throughout my career, my dad has kept all the stuff,” said the forward. “But the cap stayed with me. . . it was something for me to work towards."

Manchester United's Greenwood, 18, described Kane as a "role model" and said he was most looking forward to linking up with the Spurs talisman.

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