England World Cup news: Harry Kane aiming to match Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick

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Standard Sport18 June 2018

England captain Harry Kane has his eyes on matching World Cup Golden Boot pacesetter Cristiano Ronaldo as the Three Lions' tournament begins on Monday night against Tunisia.

Ronaldo opened his account in Russia in style, scoring a hat-trick in Portugal's pulsating 3-3 draw against Spain on Friday night.

England are favourites to beat Tunisia in their opening Group G game on Monday in Volgograd, and Kane admitted that while Ronaldo's treble has put extra pressure on him to perform, the Tottenham striker is raring to go in Russia.

"He's put me under a little bit of pressure for sure," Kane told reporters. "He's a fantastic player and had a fantastic game but as always for me it's about concentrating on myself and the team.

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"Hopefully I can score a hat-trick tomorrow and we'll be level, but it's not something I'll think about much until hopefully towards the end of the tournament."

Kane also said he is relishing his role as skipper: "I am enjoying it for sure. For me, not a lot changes. I am still the same person, the same team-mate.

"Maybe I've been scoring a few more goals in training. I am proud to be England captain and can't wait to get going."

"The team are all very close. We've done a lot of stuff for the fans so they can see what we've been up to and that's not always been the case. It's about doing it on the pitch first and foremost."

Manager Southgate said his players are ready for the challenges ahead.

He said: "I think the history can help us in terms of understanding what we can improve upon. You learn lessons from the past but this team shouldn't be burdened with it, because they're a fresh group.

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"The future's all ahead of them and they've got to be thinking about what's possible.

"They have a hunger, they have a desire, we have better technical players coming through academies. There's a real enthusiasm and they're looking forward to getting going."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

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