Tuchel calms concern around Kane’s fitness at World Cup

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

England head coach Thomas Tuchel insisted there is no reason to be concerned about Harry Kane&#league-update-for-6-5-26/">8217;s fitness at the World Cup this summer.

Kane is set to lead England for the second time at the competition, having also done so in the 2022 edition, when they reached the quarter-finals.

The striker played 51 games for Bayern Munich in 2025-26 and scored 61 goals across all competitions (not including the Club World Cup), the most of any player in the top five European leagues.

Only Kylian Mbappe (12) has scored more goals than Kane (eight) across the last two World Cups, but it was the Englishman’s Euro 2024 campaign which has some fans worried.

The 32-year-old scored three goals in seven games at the tournament, while he often looked sluggish off the ball, with the forward reportedly injured.

Ahead of their warm-up game against New Zealand, Tuchel has no such concerns this time around, insisting Kane will be on the pitch as long as necessary at the World Cup.

“Harry is a key player, there is no doubt,” he said. “Of course, we take care of him, but we also want him on the pitch.

— England (@England) June 5, 2026

“Ideally, we can take some minutes off him, but if the matches are close, do we really do this? Do we take our main goalscorer, our captain, off? Maybe not.

“The most important thing is the shape Harry is in. He’s in top shape, he is ready to go.

“He was the leading player who set the intensity in training, on a defensive training day. He’s used to high pressing, high intensity in the opponent’s half with Bayern Munich.

“We don’t have to be worried about him at all, even if it’s hot and humid. He’s shown the whole week he is ready, determined, he was so influential in Bayern’s campaign, he scored three in the cup final.

“We have some good options, but Harry is the main guy up front.”

England start their World Cup campaign on June 17 against Croatia, before also facing Ghana and Panama in the group stage.

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