Only a victorious World Cup campaign will satisfy England captain Kane

England captain Harry Kane believes only lifting the trophy at next year's World Cup will be enough to satisfy the Three Lions' squad and supporters. 

Thomas Tuchel led England to a flawless qualifying campaign for FIFA's flagship tournament, winning all eight of their matches while scoring 18 goals and conceding none. 

Indeed, England have won their last 10 competitive matches to nil, equalling the record by a European nation, with Spain doing so between October 2014 and June 2016.

And their reward was a spot in Group L at the World Cup, alongside Ghana, Croatia and Panama, with the hopes of achieving world glory for the first time since 1966. 

England have reached the latter stages of the last two editions, being beaten in the semi-finals in 2018 by Croatia and the quarter-finals by France three years ago, while also reaching the final twice at the Euros, losing to Italy and Spain, respectively. 

Kane (eight) only trails Gary Lineker (10) for goals scored at a World Cup by an England player, but the Bayern Munich captain is aiming to block out the noise surrounding the Three Lions in an attempt to lead them to the trophy. 

"I think we're at that stage now where only a win is going to satisfy ourselves and satisfy the country," Kane said.

"We felt that, a little bit, at the last Euros. We got to the final and there was still a lot of negative noise around us.

"We knew that unless we won it that noise was going to continue, and it did, that's part and parcel of it.

"The success we've been building since 2018, semi-finals of the World Cup, a final, quarter-final, then another final, we've been knocking on the door, and we've consistently been one of the best teams in the world.

"Going into this tournament, there's an expectation. We're fourth in the world rankings, people see us as one of the favourites. We have to acknowledge that and take it into the tournament and handle that pressure.

"We've had a lot of good things, a lot of good moments in the last eight years or so as a national team, but ultimately, now, for myself, it's about winning, it's about winning the biggest trophies.

"We definitely have the quality to do it, now it's about having the quality to handle those moments.

"Whenever a major tournament comes around, it's the peak of your career, the peak of the pressure that you feel and the excitement that you feel, so I'm excited to see how I handle that and how the team do as well."

Kane has enjoyed a blistering start to the 2025-26 season, netting 32 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions for Bayern, more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues (Kylian Mbappe is second with 29 goals). 

The 31-year-old is set to lead England out at the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, something he insists remains the biggest honour of his career. 

"I think sometimes when you're in it, you don't realise what you're doing and how young you are," Kane said.

"For me, it was always a dream to play for England but to captain England was the pinnacle of my career.

"I was always a massive England fan growing up, more than a club fan, so it was always an achievement I wanted to complete.

"I've been lucky enough to do it for a long time now, the years go quickly. I never take it for granted, I know how much it means."