Declan Rice has paid Harry Kane the ultimate compliment, declaring the England captain is such a legendary figure that he will tell his children he played alongside him. Speaking after England's opening World Cup win over Croatia, where Kane scored twice, the midfielder insisted Kane ranks among the best strikers in the tournament.
Rice's admiration for Kane
Rice, who plays for Arsenal, said: "He's one of those players that can tell the kids when they're older that they got to play with Harry Kane. For me, that's unbelievable. He's one of them players that I'm very fortunate to have. One, he's our captain. But two, how he leads by example every day and how he pushes in training."
The midfielder added: "It's not a surprise to me how good he is just because of the goals he scores in training and what he's been doing at Bayern Munich and what he's been doing in an England shirt. It's been an honour to play with him."
England's World Cup ambitions
England made a winning start to their Group stage, but Rice acknowledged a tough test awaits against Ghana. He said: "We are just as motivated if not more motivated to win. Harry spoke about it earlier that we haven’t always had a great result in the second game so we have to get that right."
Reflecting on the performance against Croatia, Rice noted: "If you look back on the second half, it was probably the best half of football we’ve played under Thomas. That performance was the benchmark now and if we keep playing like that then we will be a match for anyone and we should have confidence in our ability and believe we can beat anyone in this tournament."
Midfield battle against Ghana
Rice also discussed the upcoming challenge of facing former Arsenal teammate Thomas Partey in midfield. He said: "I played against Thomas, so I played with Thomas at Arsenal. A really good player, but also I've played against a lot of the Ghana team. And like I said from the clips, I know what they're going to bring. They're going to bring strength and pace. They want to catch us out on the counter attack. So yeah, we need to be ready for everything. But also, we have played against a lot of them. Players already know what's going to be coming tomorrow."
