Gareth Southgate Make Sure Harry Kane Can Appear Against The United States

Harry Kane (Twitter @england)

JAKARTA England coach Gareth Southgate has confirmed team captain Harry Kane is fit and ready to play against the United States in the second match of Group B of the 2022 World Cup Qatar, Saturday, November 26 in the morning.

The striker's position was initially doubtful against America after suffering an ankle injury while helping England win 6-2 over Iran in the group stage's first match on Monday, November 21 yesterday.

The injury left Kane pulled out in the 76th minute and replaced by Callum Wilson. However, he was confirmed to be fit after going through the scanning process on Wednesday.

"Harry [Kane] is fine. He trains separately from the team, but everything is fine for [the match] Friday night (Saturday morning WIB, ed.)," Southgate said, reported by BBC Sport, Thursday, November 24, 2022.

In the match against Iran, the Tottenham Hotspur player did not score. However, he provided two assists for each goal scored by Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford.

Kane has so far scored 51 goals in 76 appearances for the Three Lions. He is only two goals adrift of Wayne Rooney who is the top scorer for England.

Kane's presence as one of the important figures in the squad will be good news for Southgate. The reason is, England need three points in the match against the United States to make sure they qualify early for the knockout stages.

"We want to finish qualifying as quickly as possible. The first goal is to qualify from the group. We want to do it on Friday, but the game won't be like Monday [against Iran]," Southgate said.

"They have some players we know from the Premier League and they showed in the first half against Wales the best side of them," he added.

Currently England still dominates Group B with a collection of three points. They were followed by Wales and the United States who only got a draw in their first match.