Captain Harry Kane has dismissed the idea of division in the England squad, insisting there is “complete togetherness” ahead of the World Cup semi-final with Argentina.<\/p>\n
England booked their place in the last four by grinding out a 2-1 extra-time win over Norway in the extreme Miami heat, with Jude Bellingham hitting back at Thomas Tuchel’s post-match assessment that they had not played well.<\/p>\n
The Real Madrid star scored twice to drag his side through and appeared to question Tuchel by suggesting “he doesn\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to play in those kind of conditions”.<\/p>\n
But Kane rubbished the idea of a rift in the camp and told BBC Sport: “When you are playing a game like that and to be asked a question five minutes after the final whistle, and he didn\u2019t really know what the manager has said, what do you want Jude to say?<\/p>\n
“We had just been through a battle. It was really tough out there.<\/p>\n
“It is easy to try and create this division \u2013 it seems like an English mentality, an English thing to do at these major tournaments.<\/p>\n
“But it is the complete opposite. The group is where we are because of our togetherness \u2013 not just the players, the coach and the staff.<\/p>\n
“Things sometimes get made out to be more than they are.”<\/p>\n
Kane accepts Tuchel\u2019s straight-talking manner is what makes him an elite coach, but insists the German has been positive with the squad.<\/p>\n
“We understand it. Players on the pitch know more than anyone when you are playing well, when you are not playing well, that is part and parcel of football,” he added.<\/p>\n
“We understand what the boss meant, the boss has been so complimentary of the group.<\/p>\n
“He said the mentality of the group, which is sometimes the hardest part, has been at the highest, highest level and we have been for some time now.<\/p>\n
“He wears his heart on his sleeve and people appreciate that. When he talks, it is never scripted. That is what makes him who he is.<\/p>\n
“When it just comes naturally, you believe in that, you believe in what he is saying, you believe in his approach.<\/p>\n
“He is one of the best managers in the world for a reason. We understand it. Over the past two years we have got to know him and know what makes him happy.”<\/p>\n
Watch England v Argentina in the World Cup semi-final on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player on Wednesday from 7pm. Live blogs on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app.<\/p>\n
Watch Shamrock Rovers v Cork City in the Club Orange FAI Cup second round on Friday from 7.30pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player<\/p>\n
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Listen to the RT\u00c9 Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Captain Harry Kane has dismissed the idea of division in the England squad, insisting there is “complete togetherness”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-549024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}