Kane needs support acts to step up with England
Unless the rest can reach his level, the striker will end up shouldering the nation’s hopes on his own
England’s followers have always viewed their team through the lens of the centre-forward. By that measure, Harry Kane was built in a laboratory to satisfy the English yearning for a No9 capable of taking on the world.
Before the cosmopolitanism of the Premier League widened our tastes, the England centreforward was an emblem of power and toughness: the Milk Tray man in a No9 shirt (for older readers). He was a smasher of barriers, a winner of physical battles, a planter of flags in opposition penalty boxes.
Sir Bobby Charlton, Wayne Rooney’s predecessor as all-time leading goalscorer, was a great deal more sophisticated than that in his attacking-midfield role, but the love of a central striker has never faded.
From Geoff Hurst and Jimmy Greaves through to Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Rooney and now Kane, expectation in tournaments has tended to be channelled through the finisher. You can see why. England have traditionally lacked the other archetypes. Here, there has been no Total Football era to compare with Holland’s, no Diego Maradona (Argentina), no glut of playmakers (the Spain team of 2008-2012), no Clairefontaine boom (France), and no swarm of technical players to compare with Germany’s World Cup winning side of 2014.
With minor exceptions – Gazza, Paul Scholes, Glenn Hoddle – England have never been able to base their game on midfield creativity. The engine room has always been well staffed, with Bryan Robson, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and so on – but to no avail. On the wings, John Barnes, Chris Waddle and David Beckham could hardly be called products of a reliable production line.
Some very good defenders have provided traditional entertainment. But because the English culture has fallen short in so many positions on the field, the central striker has always taken to the pitch with the extra burden of being the saviour and focal point. With every goal he scores for Spurs, Kane is loaded with a greater responsibility to return England to credibility on the international stage.
Tomorrow evening, England’s supporters should disperse into the night with their team safely bound for a World Cup in Russia after the penultimate qualifier, against Slovenia. Their most recent memories will be a of a young side crashing out at the group stage in Brazil and losing to Iceland in Nice in a European Championship two years later.
Optimism will not flood their souls when they examine Gareth Southgate’s full squad. Even the England manager admits some of these players are lucky to be there. The recent pairing of Jordan Henderson and Jake Livermore in central midfield points to the most obvious scarcity of resources. But one legitimate No 10: Alli, who is still developing.
As things stand, Kane has scored as many goals for England as John Barnes, Allan Clarke, Francis Lee, Jackie Milburn, and, wait for it, Paul Gascoigne. He is 43 behind Wayne Rooney who, after 2006, was doomed to be the talisman of an England side stumbling towards the nadir of the Iceland game.
Somehow, Rooney was never fully worn down by that thankless task, and kept going to 53 goals in 119 appearances. The obsession with goals scored and caps is another sign that England need their statistical sideshows to distract them from the cold reality of not reaching a tournament final for 51 years.
Ten goals in 21 games is a promising return for Kane, who has already played for three managers: Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce and now Southgate.
But the real peaks of England goalscoring are a long way distant. Hurst scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final, Lineker won the Golden Boot in Mexico in 1986. Charlton’s 49 were distilled into a triumphant summer’s day in 1966.
Nobody could accuse Kane of dodging responsibility or hedging his bets with England to see how it turns out. He wants to be captain, and is bringing to the training ground the same impressive hunger he exhibits at Spurs. His is the example every England player should follow after years of Rooney setting the bar for individual ability.
This is a good place for England to be. Or, a good starting place. But until the rest of the team can prove otherwise by helping him shine, Kane is an upgrade of the old Rooney problem. One-man bands win nothing in international tournaments.