Harry Kane believes England’s dressing room has become like a Band of Brothers.
Kane says the spirit in the camp has been strengthened after the dramatic win over Colombia and claims they are ready to go into battle for each other.
England stand on the verge of reaching their first World Cup semi-final for 28 years and Kane painted a picture of unity straight from the epic Second World War mini-series.
England captain Kane said: “Just like family, really. We’ve spent a lot of time together. We all get on very well. I spoke about the togetherness and trust before the tournament, but we want to prove it on the pitch and show we can do that. We have done that so far.
“It’s made us even stronger. That joy in everyone’s face the other night… we’d worked so hard to achieve that, and it makes us even prouder. I look at them as my brothers, and they do the same.
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“Definitely a hunger because of the other night. When you go through a battle like that, it gives you so much energy and belief to go and do it again. We’re hungry for more.
“We love that feeling. If it goes to extra-time and penalties, we’ll be ready for that. We’re ready to do whatever it takes.
“Colombia was massive for us. Obviously we’ve had so much heartache as a country in knockout games and penalty shoot-outs. For our inexperienced, young team, to overcome that… it was a tough night.
“To come through that and fight to the end, getting through on the shoot-out, was massive. It’ll give us huge belief. We’ll be stronger for it.
“We know this game could be the same, going all the way to penalties, but we have that in the bank now: we know we can come through the other side.”
It is an unlikely quarter-final, England have captured the nation’s imagination while Sweden have exceeded their own expectations having only qualified through after a play-off with Italy.
But Kane was not sure how to describe anyone who would have imagined a quarter final line-up with Sweden and England with the winners of Croatia and Russia to come in the semis on Wednesday.
He added: “I’m not sure what you’d call someone like that. I don’t think a lot of people expected the teams in the quarter-finals now to be here, to be honest.
“And the semi-final, the same. Whoever gets there? I’m not sure. It’s hard to put a name on it. But a lot of fans have dreams. Players have dreams. They can be a dreamer."
Kane has already got six goals in his chase to be the Golden Boot winner but the Tottenham striker insists he is not interested in personal glory and only wants to help the team succeed.
Incredibly, Kane is the first player since Tommy Lawton in 1939 to score in six consecutive games for England and another would push him closer to greatness but he modestly insists there is still some way to go.
Kane said: “No, I don’t think about it. I didn’t know that. It’s been a great campaign so far. The job is to help the team as much as possible, with and without the ball, scoring goals or getting assists.
“Hopefully it can continue and I carry on scoring. That would be amazing, but the focus is on helping the team.
“You can never write off Ronaldo or Messi. They’ve probably not had the tournaments they set out to have, but they’re still two of the best players in the world. For me and the other young players coming through, they’re still inspirational.
“They set a bar we have to go and try and reach. I’m very pleased with how it’s gone so far, but I want to keep pushing and getting better, and achieve what they’ve achieved in their careers.
“But hopefully I carry on scoring and we go far. We’re not really thinking about being world champions yet. We’ve got a long way to go. We’re only just in the second half of the tournament. We’ve done great up until now, but we have another step to overcome.”
England face a Sweden team built on their defence and with a remarkable record against the Three Lions — there have been just two English wins in the last 15 meetings.
Having banished two ghosts against Colombia by winning on penalties and winning a knockout game, they must now put another one to bed.
Kane added: “Defensively very strong, very compact. They’ve done great, got some great results. That’s down to their team, really. I wouldn’t say they have loads of individuals who stand out.
“The best bit about them is they are together and stick together on the pitch. We know it’ll be a very tough game and we have to be fully focused.
“Their record speaks for itself. A great tournament so far, strong in all parts of their game, set-pieces as well. We have to focus on ourselves and what we have to do to break them down. A strong unit.
“[Manchester United centre-back Victor] Lindelof has done great in the tournament so far. I’ve not played against him that much in my career, but I want to test myself against good defenders.”