Herbie Kane believes the togetherness within the Young Lions camp will drive to victory against Brazil at the FIFA World Cup.
The England midfielder and his Under-17s team-mates are preparing to tackle the South Americans in their second Group B game in Chile on Tuesday evening.
And the opportunity to test himself against one of the world’s most famous sides is something Kane cannot wait to do, if handed the opportunity by head coach Neil Dewsnip.
Brazil v England
FIFA U17s World Cup
Group B
9pm, Tuesday 20 October
Estadio La Portada, La Serena
Live on Eurosport 2
“It’s going to be massive – we know if we win then we will be in a great position to go through. After losing their first game they need to win too, so it’s going to be a big one,” the Liverpool ace told TheFA.com.
“It’ll be a fantastic experience. England versus Brazil is a game that fans want to see, two big footballing nations going head-to-head at a World Cup – it doesn’t get much bigger than that.”
He continued: “Personally I like the challenge of testing myself against the best players from around the world at my age. It gives you the chance to compare where you are at and shows you where you need to get to to become the best.
“In international football you need to be so disciplined. Positionally you need to be top of your game, and you have to be on top with everything you do or you will get punished.
“The knowledge I’ll gain from this tournament will be vital in my development as a player, and I just hope I get another opportunity to show exactly what I’m about.”
The England squad said goodbye to Tayo Edun on Sunday
Kane says the bond between the whole squad is growing every day, and they gave a demonstration of that when they said goodbye to the injured Tayo Edun on Sunday.
The Fulham defender has been forced out through injury, and has been replaced by Cameron Humphreys in the squad, and received a guard of honour as he left the camp in La Serena.
“You could see the tightness of the group in the send off we gave. That was a gutter for us all, and we wanted to show him how sorry we are to see him go.
“It was a nice gesture from the group and we decided to do it because we wanted to show our appreciation for him – we are one team and we wanted to show that to him."
And the closeness and drive to succeed within the group will be key in their attempts to overcome Brazil, according to Kane.
“A few of the lads have played Brazil before and we all feel that if we play to our strengths then we can get a positive result,” added the 17-year-old.
“There’s a real good atmosphere within the group out here and we are really close-knit.
"Of course we have a good bit of banter, but we have serious attitude to improving and working hard to get the job done.”
England meet Brazil in La Serena on Tuesday at 9pm, live on Eurosport 2.
