Harry Kane has backed England to kick on in the knockout rounds of Euro 2024, pointing to their improvement after the group stage at the last two major tournaments.
Gareth Southgate’s team topped Group C on Tuesday night despite a 0-0 draw with Slovenia completing a dispiriting trudge through the opening round.
Kane insists England know they must play better but cited the extra gears they found in the latter stages of Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup.
“I think if you look at previous tournaments for sure we started to play some of our best football in the knockout rounds,” he said.
“The last Euros against Germany, against Ukraine and then Denmark, and even the World Cup against Senegal in the first knockout round, so for sure there’s more to come.
“I think always the objective to start the tournament is to get through the group. You don’t want to have any mishaps and then you’re third place waiting to see what happens.
“We finished top, we’ve done our main objective. We can improve, we know that, but you’ve got to enjoy these moments.
“Major tournaments are really hard, really difficult, and to finish top is not easy.”
Topping their group means England are in the kinder half of the draw at Euro 2024, away from fancied teams including France, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
“Whoever we get it’s going to be a tough game, as this group has shown,” Kane told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I think every group that you’ve watched so far in this tournament, there’s some really good teams, really well-organised teams.
“There’s no easy game now in this type of competition. So whoever it is, obviously we’ll do what we always do: prepare well, debrief well.
“And then it’s knockout football now, the important part of the tournament where it all counts, so hopefully we can build a bit of momentum going into the knockout rounds.”
England play their Euro 2024 last 16 game on Sunday evening in Gelsenkirchen, where they won their opening group stage fixture against Serbia.
Their opponents will be determined by Wednesday’s final round of games in Groups E and F, but will either be the Netherlands, Romania, Belgium, Slovakia or Ukraine.