Harry Kane believes England supporters would be happy to see the Three Lions win every game on penalties if it led to Euro 2020 glory.
There has been plenty of negative discussion surrounding England’s group-stage displays, despite the fact they progressed with two wins and a draw to set up a round of 16 clash against Germany.
Kane has yet to find the back of the net, with Raheem Sterling scoring the only two goals England managed in Group D.
There have been much more entertaining teams so far at the Euros, with Spain’s 5-3 extra-time win over Croatia on Monday evening a highlight.
But Kane feels there would be no complaints if England went the whole way to the Wembley final on July with a string of pragmatic performances.
“I think the bottom line is I don’t think there’ll be any England fan disappointed if we end up winning every game 1-0 or winning every game on penalties without scoring another goal and we ended up lifting the trophy in a couple of weeks,” he said.
“So the bottom line is we want to win games, of course, we’d love to play amazing football and then win every game scoring three or four goals but we know that’s not always the case.
“It’s been great that we’ve kept three clean sheets, that’s great for the whole team in general, to have that going forward because we’re going to need to continue that if we want to go all the way.
“Obviously a different opposition poses a different threat, different strengths and weaknesses, and hopefully we can go out there and exploit a few of theirs – and if we can score a few goals, then great.”
Much has been made of the clash with Germany, 25 years on from the semi-final Wembley meeting at Euro 96 – which the visitors won on penalties.
Current England boss Gareth Southgate missed the deciding spot-kick that night but Kane admits most of the current squad are too young to recall the incident and that it will hold no sway this time around.
“I’ll be totally honest, the majority of players don’t ever remember that game,” he told talkSPORT.
“A lot of them weren’t born, I think I was only three years old, of course you see highlights and stuff like that but the bottom line is, we’ve moved on, we’re a different team, we are a different squad.
“We’ve won penalty shoot-outs the last three, four years so the most important thing from our point of view is that we’re trying to get the job done in 90 minutes and if called upon we’ll be ready to do whatever it takes.”
Kane also insists beating Germany takes precedent over his own goalscoring ambition.
“I’ve always said as a striker you go through spells – good spells and sometimes spells that just don’t quite go your way,” he added.
“The most important thing for me is that we’re winning games. The first objective was to qualify, which we’ve done.
“The second is to now try and reach the quarter-finals, so whether (or not) I’m scoring, the most important is that we’re winning.
“That’s all I’m focused on tomorrow night, that’s all the team are focused on, however we get it done. That’s our main objective, and we’ll do everything in our power to get through.”
While England made it to the last four in Russia, they suffered a shock defeat to Iceland in the round of 16 at Euro 2016.
Kane was one of the few players involved in the current squad who featured in the surprise loss but he believes it has only made him more determined to go further this time.
“There’s only a few of us, maybe, who were involved in that tournament, and that game especially,
“Sometimes games like that give you more motivation to go and be successful in the future and you can learn from experiences like that.
“I did for sure and the players that were involved did, so, yeah, it’s totally different.
“We’re obviously playing a massive team, Germany, but, look, it’s just one to look forward to.
“We feel confident. We’ve had a good start to the tournament (and there are) areas we can improve, for sure, so hopefully we can take that into tomorrow night.”
