England's Harry Kane ready to peak in World Cup knockouts

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After tailoring his conditioning to reach optimum match fitness, Harry Kane said he is ready to peak in the World Cup knockout stages.

The 29-year-old is yet to score in the tournament but has three assists to his name as his side topped Group B to set up a round of 16 clash against Senegal.

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Five of Kane's six goals came in the group stage before England were beaten in the semifinals.

After a goalless group phase, Kane scored in every knockout round to help England reach the Euro 2020 final, where they lost to Italy in a penalty shootout.

Kane was asked if he wanted to manage his performances the same way again. In the World Cup, we started the tournament great, I used a lot of energy, and as the tournament went on, I felt like my performances dipped in the latter stages.

Before the Euros, I was conscious of trying to make it different. I was trying to make sure that I was in the best shape for the knockout stages, even though I wanted to start well. It was carried into the tournament by me.

I would like to be sitting here with two or three goals but I think the group stage has gone well. It has not been very difficult in the minutes.

Going into the knockout stage, I feel good because the games haven't been as physical as I would have liked. Coming off the back of the premier league schedule, I feel fit and sharp.

Time will tell." I want to come into my best form in these 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."

If the goals come, it will give us a better chance of victory.

I want to be a prolific goal scorer. Tomorrow will be a tough game, but I hope I can get off the mark.

Kane's methodology is an example of how the tournament savviness has been introduced to England.

The need to keep the squad involved emotionally as well as physically has been learned from playing seven matches in the last two tournaments.

We've had individual situations where we've tried to manage people's minutes, manage some players back from injury and get them ready to play.

We're really pleased with the progress we've made so far. We have everybody available for tomorrow but you don't necessarily know that unless you go right to the distance. It's only relevant if we win tomorrow and progress, so we don't need to know more about it.

Aliou Cisse wasn't able to train for two days and didn't show up for his media duties on Saturday.

Cisse had a temperature so we had to be careful. With his instructions, we took charge of training yesterday, and hopefully tomorrow he will be able to come and be with the players. He will be with the team at 10 pm tomorrow.