Harry, it's our 1000th international, so it must feel special to be leading out the teams on such an occasion?
Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. Being part of England is a special thing to do and something which you dream of as a youngster so to be a part of that is something to savour. 1000 games is pretty amazing, so the fact that we’re playing in this game and making a little bit of history will be great. The most important thing will be to win the game, but it’ll be a special occasion for us and the fans.
You’ll be the man who leads out the team too, so that must give it some added significance for you?
Absolutely, it was pretty special to lead the team out at the World Cup last year and all of these little milestones mean a lot to me. I guess this one comes around with a little bit of luck, just to be around and in the right place at the right time but to be leading the team out for such a momentous occasion will be something I look back on when I’ve retired and can really take it in.
Aside from that, this is also a EURO 2020 qualifier which we need to win…
Absolutely, as always we want to win the game and that will always be our main focus. I think it’ll make it a little bit more special if we do win to qualify, as we can celebrate together after the game. But we need to focus on the performance first and make that happen.
You really hit form in the away game against Montenegro in March, winning 5-1. Do you expect a different game this time?
Away from home, they went 1-0 up but we had a really good reaction to come back and win the way we did. At Wembley, it’s always a massive game for the opposition to come and play and they’ll make it tough. They’ve got some good players and they’ll come looking to get something out of the game. As always, we’ll focus on ourselves and we have enough ability in our team to beat anyone so we can’t take our foot off the gas.
The prize at the end is the chance to play at Wembley in EURO 2020, so that’s great incentive for us.
Exactly. It’ll be the closest that I’ll ever get to playing in a home tournament. That’s amazing and we have to make the most of it. The atmosphere will be amazing and I’m sure it will be an incredible summer. Even just being able to stay at home and be closer to your family during a major tournament, that’ll be good for us and all of these things can help to make a big difference come the end of it. Of course, there’ll be a lot of expectation on us now, after the World Cup and the form that we’ve shown but that’s part and parcel of being a footballer so we’ve got to prepare for it right and go and get the job done.
You can read the full interview with Harry in the official match programme for the game with Montenegro, including his favourite England moments from the past, recollections of local pub beer gardens and some of the memories from his early international career.
ORDER THE ENGLAND V MONTENEGRO PROGRAMME
