England’s Harry Kane loves knockout soccer and his stats prove it

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — England is banking on Harry Kane’s golden touch returning in the knockout phase of the European Championship.

England’s all-time record scorer has made a habit of saving his best for the late stages and aims to continue that streak on Sunday against Slovakia in the round of 16.

Kane has six goals in his last six knockout games at the Euros and the World Cup.

“It’s kind of the process of tournament football. Naturally you get physically stronger. Naturally, you get sharper as you play more games,” the England captain said on Saturday. “A lot of the players come into their peak sharpness at the knockout stage.”

Compared to recent tournaments, Kane is already ahead of schedule after scoring a record- extending 64th goal for England in the 1-1 draw with Denmark during the group stage.

He failed to score at the same stage of the last Euros three years ago and the World Cup in 2022.

He followed that with four goals in the knockout phase of the Euros in 2021 to help fire England to the final, and scored two more in the round of 16 and quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar.

“Knockout football,” Kane said, “is a different prospect to the group stage. We’ve handled that well in the past and now it’s time to do that again.

“Being the the striker in the team, obviously I want to score goals and help the team get through.”

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024