Four Four Two - UK (2022-07)

“I REMEMBER WATCHInG WORLD

CUPS, GOInG MEnTAL. KnOWInG

I GAVE THAT FEELInG BACK TO

PEOPLE GIVES ME GOOSEBUMPS”

Top to bottom

Captain Kane

lines up against

Scotland; last-

minute joy to

topple Tunisia;

Harry’s header

to see off the

Germans sends

Wembley nuts

30 July 2022 FourFourTwo

DO OnE, ROn

At Kane’s current age, 28 years and 10 months, even CR7 couldn’t match his international goal tally

LIONEL

MESSI

50 49 47 46 27 22

HARRY

KANE

CRISTIANO

RONALDO

ROBERT

LEWANDOWSKI

KARIM

BENZEMA

ZLATAN

IBRAHIMOVIC

team, so you use it as a bit of motivation. If they’re singing about you,

you must be doing something right for your team. I was fully focused

early in my career. I was someone who wanted to be consistent over

many, many years.”

With more than 300 goals to his name for club and country now,

it’s probably fair to say that he’s made his point to the one-season

wonder brigade. “Yeah, for sure, absolutely,” he chuckles. “And I’m

only 28 now – I’ve still got loads of time to keep improving, so that’s

what I’ll try to do.”

That he wasn’t a teenage superstar, having had to wait until he was

21 for his breakthrough season, Kane developed a work ethic that was

required to claw his way to the top – the kind he’s never relinquished

and has been key to his consistency. “I think so,” he admits. “When

you’re playing week in, week out, sometimes people forget the journey

you’ve been on. It wasn’t a straightforward journey for me: I had to

go on loan, I had to be patient, I had to wait for my opportunity.

“I’ve always been someone who’s studied every moment in training,

every game, to try to get better, and that’s helped to get me to where

I am today. I know what I was like trying to take someone else’s spot

when I was young, and I know there are young players who will be

looking at me to try to do the same. So I have to make sure I’m not

letting my foot off the gas, to play for England for as long as possible.”

“I GOT A BIT EMOTIOnAL”

Within a couple of years of making his England debut, not only was

Kane a regular in the line-up, he was also the captain. Aged just 23,

the forward was handed his armband by Gareth Southgate for the

first time when England travelled to Hampden Park to face Scotland

in World Cup qualifying.

“To lead the boys out for the first time was a proud moment – and

to score in the last minute was nice, too...” he smiles, after such an

understatement. England had trailed 2-1 to a pair of Leigh Griffiths

free-kicks, about to lose to their neighbours for the first time since

1999, when the Three Lions’ new skipper popped up at the far post to

volley home in the 93rd minute, silencing Hampden.

Up until then, Kane had registered five goals in 17 appearances for

England – a relatively modest tally by his standards. His first major

tournament had ended in disappointment at Euro 2016, meanwhile,

when he was unable to find the net. After being handed the captaincy

• albeit initially on a rotational basis with Jordan Henderson – he hit
  14 goals in 10 appearances, a glut that continued all the way into the
  World Cup itself.
  He still regards the opening game of the tournament, against Tunisia
  in Volgograd, as another of his top three career highlights. Having been
  surprisingly asked to take corner-kicks at Euro 2016, this time he was
  lurking in the six-yard box, making the most of his predatory instincts
  to score from two of them; the latter gave the Three Lions a dramatic
  victory in stoppage time.
  “I loved that game,” he tells FFT, thinking back. “The World Cup is so
  special and it was such a big game. To score in a World Cup at all was
  incredible, but to get the winner in the 91st minute... I still remember
  watching it down the pub and going mental when we scored – it gives
  me goosebumps knowing that I gave everybody that feeling back.”
  In the very next game came a hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Panama –
  only the third time an England player had scored a treble in a World
  Cup match, after Gary Lineker against Poland in 1986 and some chap
  called Geoff Hurst in a little-talked-about fixture against West Germany
  in 1966. A penalty followed against Colombia in the last 16, to leave
  Kane on six goals from just three appearances, having been rested for
  the final group game against Belgium. Already, he’d done enough to
  secure the World Cup Golden Boot, joining an illustrious list of names
  from throughout history including Ronaldo, Gerd Muller, Eusebio and

HARRY

KAnE