I WANT TO BE UP THERE WITH MESSI AND RONALDO
Kane: I’ve proved critics wrong all my career... and I will keep doing it
Awater leak was pouring through one of the low ceiling tiles at the Volgograd arena, and the security man guarding the doors to the dressing rooms had the look, and the smile, of a Bond villain.
Grimly imposing with what appeared to be a mouth of metal teeth. Harry Kane breezed past him like he was an old family friend and russia was home from home.
to him, it probably is. this is familiar territory for a player whose career has been one long fight to prove sceptics and detractors wrong. when he sat on a podium on the eve of his world Cup finals debut and talked of scoring hat-tricks for england in russia and emulating Cristiano ronaldo, there were more than a few sideways glances.
the 2016 european Championship had hardly ended happily for Kane, or england, and he was having the bar raised extraordinarily high. a simple win would do, surely. england haven’t had enough of those in the opening games of tournaments to start factoring in dreams of personal glory.
Yet Kane’s journey, from rejection by arsenal at eight, to Leyton Orient on loan, to being the youngest england captain at a world Cup, is all about exceeding expectations. Not his own, obviously. For all his boy next door image, Kane never lacked selfbelief. Yet he hasn’t always carried the audience with him.
according to former tottenham manager tim Sherwood, even the chairman had his doubts. Sherwood recalls Daniel Levy asking of Kane, ‘Is he CL?’. Levy always uses the abbreviation when he talks about the Champions League. Several years on, the answer is most definitely Y.
Captain, leader… legend? well, one step at a time, but becoming the first england player since Gary Lineker in 1990 to score twice in a world Cup match is quite the start. that the second of those goals was an injury-time winner, while not going the full ronaldo against Spain, is certainly a marker. Kane smiled when asked about his bullish pre-match prediction.
‘I’ve had to prove people wrong throughout my career,’ he said, ‘and I love proving to myself I can do that, too. So this is about making that point. the euros was disappointing for me, for everyone, and the challenge is to put that right. ronaldo is the best in the world, up there with Lionel Messi, so my challenge is to be up there with them, too.
‘to do that you can’t aim low. I put no limits on myself — and nobody else should, either. I worked hard to get where I am. I have a lot of determination and it is now about stepping it up.
‘I want to prove myself at a major tournament, be up there with the best in the world and the only way to do that is to perform in the big moments.’
It is hearing others talk about Kane when his transformation becomes most obvious. He does not appear a natural orator, or the type to rouse the troops before matches. You cannot imagine Kane being handed the stage by the coach minutes before a crucial match, like you could tony adams or John terry.
Yet Kieran trippier, a team-mate for tottenham and england, says outsiders do not know the man. when he spoke of Kane, in the aftermath of an important victory over tunisia, an altogether different picture emerged.
‘People might not notice, but with Harry, his character, his personality — I see that on a daily basis,’ trippier said. ‘He’s the first one in, the last one out, every single day. He looks after himself, doesn’t drink alcohol, and the most important thing is the way he helps others, the way he helps us all. Just with different scenarios on the pitch. If things are not working he’s got a big voice in the dressing room and everyone listens to him.
‘ He has a presence. when’s he’s around you all feed off him. He lifts you, on and off the field. that’s Harry’s confidence. that’s how much he believes in himself. two seasons ago when he was a few goals behind romelu Lukaku for the golden boot, he scored four against Leicester and three against Hull. You wouldn’t put anything past him. He’s a top captain and a top role model. I’m just happy to be his team-mate.’
It was only one game, and only tunisia — that is the cynics’ warning. Yet there is positivity around this team. Viewing figures for the match topped the recent royal wedding, and it is not often the Germans are left envying
England’s first performance at a tournament. Yet there it was, in Bild, in black and white: Kane hatten wir auch gerne (We wish we had Kane).
When he switched his telephone on after the game, the first message in the England captain’s inbox was from his Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, who ended up with three of his players in the starting line-up.
It contained a row of love hearts and the message: ‘Come on England!’ — not an obvious sentiment from an Argentine.
The nation has benefited from Pochettino’s impact, and that of coaches such as Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. Although the biggest influence on Gareth Southgate remains Terry Venables and his camp around the 1996 European Championship, that his arrival as manager has coincided with a time when club football is more open and expansive than ever, chimes perfectly with England’s new approach.
Southgate said he might judge the mood in the dressing room before attempting rousing speeches before matches, and it seems as if he adopted that strategy prior to facing Tunisia. If the principles are well-ingrained, they do not need dramatic reinforcement and England’s display — certainly in the first half — encapsulated much of what Southgate has been working on. Whatever this tournament holds, Kane insisted England will live or die playing ambitious football.
‘That is the message we are given: attack the tournament,’ Kane added. ‘We have not done well in recent years, really there is not much else that could go wrong. So I would rather come here and attack it and try to score goals. If we go out, we go out trying. And if it works, we go through.
‘It feels like we have been in Russia a long time, but we have been excited to start. We speak about togetherness but you are never sure it is there until you get out on the pitch and test it. There are moments when you need a goal, but we did not panic, and we did not look like conceding.
‘All the teams can be as good as each other on their day. Some big ones have lost already, so we are in there fighting.’
And off he went to catch the redeye back to base camp at Repino. The sun came up very quickly as England’s party returned north. A bright start and we must hope, for once, not another false dawn.