(Football news) On Sunday night, Gareth Southgate’s team will take on Serbia in their opening match at the European Championship. In Group C, their next opponents are Denmark and Slovenia.

Although they finished second in the Euro 2020 competition and lost to Italy on penalties, England has never won a European Championship.

Kane is optimistic that his squad will pose a real threat to win the title in Germany, since the Three Lions are expected to perform even better this time around. 

“I’m excited. There’s always excitement, especially when you get out to the host nation, settle into the hotel and see where everything is. Hopefully it’s going to be our camp for a good four or five weeks,” Kane told UEFA’s official website ahead of the start of the tournament.

England will face Serbia in Group C opener

“As the days go on you start to get a bit of nerves, the preparation starts, and you watch the first game, Germany vs Scotland, and that’s when it really kicks in. But at the moment, everyone’s pretty calm and excited.

“I think this squad is one of the best, if not the best, we’ve had, going on form and the domestic seasons a lot of us have had. We have incredible young talent coming through who are fearless and just want to get on the ball and play.

“I hope that the guys can lean on me and ask me questions, and if I can help them get through anything, then great. But we have such a good togetherness, we’re always talking or having dinner together and there’s always conversations being had, so that helps us.

“Gareth had a really tough decision and some really tough calls to make [with the squad], because we have some really good attacking players for England.

“But, for me personally, it’s fantastic. I want to be playing with players who can provide assists, can score goals and [have] good movement [and can] get on the ball in tight areas, and we have all of that.

Kane insists England deserve to be seen as favourites

Kane has also said that England have “earned the right” to be seen as favourites to triumph this summer due to their recent performances in major tournaments.

“I think we’ve earned the right to have that status through the previous tournaments we’ve had. But we’re also a team that hasn’t won a EURO before, so we’re trying to make history here,” he said.

“That’s a target we’ve set out to try to achieve, but we know there’s going to be a long, hard road ahead. We need to make sure we get it right because, in these tournaments, if you’re not quite on it 100%, you can be punished.”

England will enter the competition off the back of a 1-0 home defeat to Iceland, and they have only won one of their last five matches in all competitions, including a 1-1 draw with North Macedonia in their last competitive fixture in November 2023.

Three Lions midfielder Declan Rice has also said that the team can have “no excuses” this summer after coming so close to winning the last European Championship.

Also read: Matheus Cunha opens door for a transfer at Manchester United