Cape Town - England
boss Gareth Southgate has announced that Harry Kane will captain the
team for their World Cup qualifier against Slovenia on Thursday.
The Tottenham striker previously wore the armband for the meetings with France and Scotland, while Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson led the Three Lions against Slovakia and Malta.
Southgate has been hesitant to name a permanent successor to Wayne Rooney, who retired from international football in August to focus on his career with Everton.
Kane has been handed the honour for their penultimate Group F clash, but his manager remains undecided on whether to name a full-time skipper for Russia 2018, with his side set to qualify for the finals.
"He is captain for tomorrow, which he knew a month ago," the 47-year-old former England international said. "His leadership qualities are invaluable to us as a team and he is in a good moment in terms of his form.
"I enjoy working with him and I have known him for a long time and he is improving and maturing all the time."
Asked if he had plans to name a permanent captain in the future, Southgate replied: "I haven't decided yet.
"The important thing for me was when we looked at the group of players at the start, we saw potential leaders but lads who hadn't had experience of leading and how do we allow for that to happen, and how do we give them a feel of it, and I think that's worked well over the last few months.
"All of those experiences will stand them in good stead. Different situations, different opportunities to be in front of people, sharing a responsibility of team. I think that's key."
Speaking about the captaincy Kane added: "It makes me very proud, growing up as a kid you dream of playing of your country and being captain as well.
"There are plenty of leaders in this team and other guys are going to have a go to see how it feels."