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Harry Kane only has to think back to the past two tournaments to ease any doubts about not scoring so far at the World Cup, as England prepare to face Senegal in the last 16.

The captain did collect the Golden Boot as the top scorer on the last world stage in Russia with six goals, but they all came in his first three games. There was only frustration in front of goal in the next three, as England finished fourth.

The script was flipped at Euro 2020: No goals in the group stage, then four in the run to the final.

So the Tottenham striker enters the game against African champions Senegal at Al-Bayt Stadium later today encouraged by the displays at the Euros, on reflection, more than those at Russia 2018.

He said: “I started the tournament [Russia 2018] with loads of goals, used a lot of energy and as the tournament went on, I felt like my performances dipped in the latter stages.

“I was conscious before the Euros of trying to make it the other way. Of course, I still wanted to start well, but I was trying to make sure that physically, and mentally, I was in the best place for the knockout stages.”

Now the 29-year-old does feel clear of any ankle problems – after a worry early on in Qatar – and in good shape.

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He said: “I feel as match-fit as I’m ever going to feel. Only time will tell. Hopefully I can do well and come into the best form in these knockout games.

“Form-wise I feel like I have been playing well, goals are what I’m going to be judged on most but as always I’m a calm individual and always try to focus on the team and do my best for the team.”

Soccer Football - UEFA Nations League - League A - Group 4 - England v Spain - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - September 8, 2018 England's Harry Kane poses with the FIFA golden boot trophy before the match Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine
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Kane with his World Cup Golden Boot trophy

His teammates assumed the scoring burden in the group stage, netting nine goals – the most by an England team by this stage.

And he still set up three goals – the most by an England player at a World Cup since David Beckham 20 years ago.

Senegal are a ‘very dangerous’ team – and know they could win

Senegal are not a side to be underestimated.

The West African nation are the current African Cup of Nations champions, and many of the side play for major European clubs, including 11 in England.

Star player, former Liverpool and now Bayern Munich forward Sadio Mane, didn’t make the World Cup because of a knee injury, but the Lions of Teranga still scored goals and encouragingly, for them, from positions all over the pitch.

Gareth Southgate has described them as “a very dangerous team”.

This is only their second World Cup, the previous two in 2002 and 2018, and they have reached the quarter-finals once before in Japan, eventually losing to Turkey.

Watch out for Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and club teammate Kalidou Koulibaly, who captains his country.

And in the absence of the injured Mane, there has been a greater expectation placed on the Watford forward, Ismaila Sarr.

His only goal so far has come via a coolly taken penalty, having won the spot-kick himself, and he has the pace and movement to trouble any opposition.

England will go into the match favourites, but Senegal feel the pressure is off them, and know they have the ability to win the match.

Without doubt, Senegal will be the toughest team England have faced in the tournament so far.

Kane said: “I would love to be sitting here with two or three goals now, for sure, but I think the group stage has gone well.”

He only needs two goals to match Wayne Rooney‘s record 53 goals for England. The priority is, of course, leading The Three Lions into another final – and landing their first trophy since 1966.

England will be favourites going into the match, but manager Gareth Southgate will not be taking Senegal lightly.

“We have been very impressed with Senegal,” he said.

“We know they are African champions and are very proud and have great spirit and belief in their team. They have some excellent individual players who can cause problems, but a good structure as well.

“(Aliou) Cisse has done a fantastic job. They were very unlucky not to qualify from the group in Russia and they have deservedly done it this time. We know the size of the job ahead of us.”

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Southgate says England are ‘ready for penalties’

Southgate believes England are “mentally and physically” ready for another penalty shootout if the showdown with Senegal goes down to the wire.

The national team’s spot-kick issues are well documented, with all three World Cup shootouts ending in defeat before beating Colombia in the last 16 four years ago in Russia.

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Who are England’s opponents Senegal?

England followed that by winning bronze on spot-kicks at the Nations League finals against Switzerland in 2019, only for penalties to prove their undoing in last year’s European Championship final.

“We’re aiming to win the game and to avoid extra time if you can, and to avoid penalties if you can, because you’d like to get a victory in 90 minutes,” Southgate said.

“But if we need to go 120 minutes, if we need to go beyond that, then we’ve got to be ready for that mentally and physically. And I believe we are.”

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‘The capital is under attack’: Russian drones launched over Kyiv after Moscow targeted

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'The capital is under attack': Russian drones launched over Kyiv after Moscow targeted

Russia has launched a “massive” drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital overnight, after Moscow itself was targeted.

Amid flailing peace talks, the Kremlin’s nightly attacks on Ukraine continued.

Ukraine war – follow the latest updates

A large-scale Russian attack through the night into Sunday injured at least 11 in Kyiv and killed three people in towns surrounding the capital.

There were attacks elsewhere as well, including drone strikes in Mykolaiv, where a residential building was hit.

An apartment building destroyed after a Russian attack in Mykolaiv.
Pic: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
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An apartment building destroyed after a Russian attack in Mykolaiv. Pic: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

‘Massive’ attack

In Kyiv, the city’s administration warned “the night will be difficult”, as people were urged to remain in shelters.

The city’s mayor Vitaliy Klitschko described it as a “massive” attack.

He said: “Explosions in the city. Air defence forces are working. The capital is under attack by enemy UAVs. Do not neglect your safety! Stay in shelters!”

It came after at least 15 people were injured in attacks the night prior.

Russia claimed it also faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday, and that it intercepted and destroyed around 100 of them near Moscow and across Russia’s central and southern regions.

A municipality worker cleans up after a Russian drone strike on Kyiv.
Pic: Reuters
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A municipality worker cleans up after a Russian drone strike on Kyiv. Pic: Reuters

Russia ‘dragging out the war’

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine continued a prisoner exchange, marking a rare moment of cooperation in the war.

Amid the most recent attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his calls for sanctions on Russia.

Russia “fills each day with horror and murder” and is “simply dragging out the war”, he said.

A resident looks at an apartment building that was damaged in a Russian drone strike.
Pic: Reuters
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A resident looks at an apartment building that was damaged in a Russian drone strike. Pic: Reuters

“All of this demands a response – a strong response from the United States, from Europe, and from everyone in the world who wants this war to end,” Mr Zelenskyy added.

Every day “gives new grounds for sanctions against Russia”, he said, and each day without pressure proves the “war will continue”.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is ready for “any form of diplomacy that delivers real results”.

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Nine of Gazan doctor’s 10 children killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis

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Nine of Gazan doctor's 10 children killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis

Nine of a doctor’s 10 children have been killed in an Israeli missile strike on their home in Gaza, which also left her surviving son badly injured and her husband in a critical condition.

Warning: This article contains details of child deaths

Alaa Al Najjar, a paediatrician at Al Tahrir Clinic in the Nasser Medical Complex, was at work during the attack on her home, south of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on Friday.

Graphic footage shared by the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defence shows the bodies of at least seven small children being pulled from the rubble.

Rescuers can be seen battling fires and searching through a collapsed building, shouting out when they locate a body, before bringing the children out one by one and wrapping their remains in body bags.

In the footage, Dr Al Najjar’s husband, Hamdi Al Najjar, who is also a doctor, is put on to a stretcher and then carried to an ambulance.

The oldest of their children was only 12 years old, according to Dr Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas.

Rescuers removing the children's bodies from the rubble. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
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Nine children were killed in the strike. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence

“This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,” he wrote in a social media post.

“In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted – Israel’s aggression goes further, wiping out entire families.”

Rescuers placing the children's bodies in a van. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
Image:
Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence

British doctors describe ‘horrific’ and ‘unimaginable’ attack

Two British doctors working at Nasser Hospital described the attack as “horrific” and “unimaginable” for Dr Al Najjar.

Speaking in a video diary on Friday night, Dr Graeme Groom said his last patient of the day was Dr Al Najjar’s 11-year-old son, who was badly injured and “seemed much younger as we lifted him on to the operating table”.

Hamdi Al Najjar, Dr Al Najjar's husband who is also a doctor, being taken into hospital. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
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Hamdi Al Najjar, Dr Al Najjar’s husband who is also a doctor, was taken to hospital. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence

The strike “may or may not have been aimed at his father”, Dr Groom said, adding that the man had been left “very badly injured”.

Dr Victoria Rose said the family “lived opposite a petrol station, so I don’t know whether the bomb set off some massive fire”.

Rescuers unload the children's bodies. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
Image:
Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence

‘No political or military connections’

Dr Groom added: “It is unimaginable for that poor woman, both of them are doctors here.

“The father was a physician at Nasser Hospital. He had no political and no military connections. He doesn’t seem to be prominent on social media, and yet his poor wife is the only uninjured one, who has the prospect of losing her husband.”

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Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies

He said it was “a particularly sad day”, while Dr Rose added: “That is life in Gaza. That is the way it goes in Gaza.”

Sky News has approached the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.

Read more:
Mum of emaciated baby in Gaza says ‘I don’t want to lose her’
Dad wrongly pronounced dead in Israeli bombing killed in airstrike

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Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began when the militant group stormed across the border into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s military response has flattened large areas of Gaza and killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

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UN’s Antonio Guterres condemns ‘teaspoon’ of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes

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UN's Antonio Guterres condemns 'teaspoon' of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes

The head of the UN has said Israel has only authorised for Gaza what amounts to a “teaspoon” of aid after at least 60 people died in overnight airstrikes.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said on Friday the supplies approved so far “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” adding “the needs are massive and the obstacles are staggering”.

He warned that more people will die unless there is “rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access”.

A woman walks amidst rubble at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Pic: Reuters
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A woman at the site of an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters

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Gaza: ‘Loads of children with huge burns’

Israel says around 300 aid trucks have been allowed through since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Monday, but according to Mr Guterres, only about a third have been transported to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.

The IDF said 107 vehicles carrying flour, food, medical equipment and drugs were allowed through on Thursday.

Many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine, experts have warned.

Meanwhile, at least 60 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight.

More on Gaza

Ten people died in the southern city of Khan Younis, and deaths were also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.

Palestinians carry a body at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza .
Pic: Reuters
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A body is carried out of rubble after an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters

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‘Almost everyone depends on aid’ in Gaza

The latest strikes came a day after two Israeli embassy workers were killed in Washington.

The suspect, named as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois, told police he “did it for Gaza”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of fuelling antisemitism following the shootings.

The leaders of the UK, France and Canada are “on the wrong side of humanity and (…) history”, he said, after they threatened “concrete action” against Israel this week if it continues its “egregious” military operations in Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu also accused Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.

Palestinians search for casualties at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip May 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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Palestinians search for casualties in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters

But UK government minister Luke Pollard told Sky News on Friday morning he “doesn’t recognise” Mr Netanyahu’s accusation.

Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu said he was recalling negotiators from the Qatari capital, Doha, after a week of ceasefire talks failed to bring results. A working team will remain.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 others.

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The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

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