Kane said he was ready to explode – and he delivered
England captain had failed to fire in group stage but not only did he score, his all-round game was superb
Harry Kane had a message he wanted to deliver: he was ready to explode at this World Cup. And with the last kick of the first half he did just that.
The pin was pulled. The grenade went off. Bang. The ball from Jude Bellingham, after a wonderful, surging run from the outstanding teenage midfielder, was perfect, but so was the way Kane waited. And waited. It looked as if he had waited too long. But, no, this is a master marksman and he stayed calm, he delayed for Edouard Mendy to commit, he knew the defenders would not catch him and he drilled a right-foot shot back across the goalkeeper into the net.
After the celebrations – the jump and the little fist pump – the Salvadoran referee, Ivan Barton, blew the whistle and it may as well have been for full time. England had gone for the jugular, scoring once, then twice and a place in the quarter-finals against France on Saturday was secure. Senegal, the more dangerous team until then, were overwhelmed and out.
How Kane needed it. He had talked the talk and now he walked the walk, and in that moment he found himself on 52 goals, just one behind Wayne Rooney’s all-time record for England. Will Kane break it at this tournament? That would be a remarkable moment but do not bet against it.
But then it would always be foolish not to back Kane. The 29-yearold has played well at this World Cup. Even before he scored he showed again what he has been doing so impressively, playing a part in Jordan Henderson’s goal and teeing up two chances for Bukayo Saka, which the winger failed to anticipate. Kane had also missed an opportunity himself, ballooning a shot over the crossbar, but like all the great strikers he did not allow it to faze him. When the next chance came he took it. Clinically.
Kane has now had just seven efforts on target in 10 games across two World Cups but, remarkably, has scored every time. It is the best rate since the statisticians at Opta started to compile records. When he is accurate he is absolutely deadly. The goal also meant Kane has 11 at major tournaments for England – overtaking Gary Lineker’s record of 10.
For Kane it is not just about the goals – although secretly it still has to be. He will be measuring himself against the top scorers at this World Cup, having won the Golden Boot four years ago in Russia with six goals, but he has also evolved and matured. This is a striker who has won plenty of individual honours but, for example, it will hurt that he was top scorer and leading assistmaker in the Premier League a couple of seasons ago – but Tottenham Hotspur again ended up without a trophy.
So now it is about winning something. At last. Kane has waited long enough and, as Wayne Rooney said, “Harry Kane is made for these games”. Rooney recognised it. Kane talked about “tapering” himself through the group games, when he did not score, and coming to life in the knockout stages, and it appeared a constructed argument that needed a bit more evidence. Now he has gone out and provided it.
Before his goal, Kane had not scored or even had a shot on target – there had been five wayward efforts – but he had been England’s best passer, with three excellent assists. Against Iran: just 19 touches, two key passes and two assists; against Wales just 20 touches, two key passes and one assist.
It was an economy of effort, as he had suggested. Kane has been playing as a “false nine”, even a 10, but his goal was that of a pure centreforward.
Gareth Southgate rightly reasoned that we cannot complain when England are overly-dependent on Kane for goals, and then moan when the goals are spread around the team as they were in the group stages when they scored nine times. But he also knows that Kane needs to score.
In a sign of his core confidence and self-assurance, Kane had told the Football Association that he wanted to do the pre-match media duties. He wanted to get across his message – the message he was ready to explode.
He spoke to the written media and then also wanted to do the prematch press conference. Just to meet it head on and ram it home. Just to front up. He deliberately made himself the focus, which, for some, could add to the pressure. Just as in the European Championships last summer, when Kane did not score in the group, he struck in the knockout matches.
He did not actually play that well in the last-16 tie against Germany and is certainly in far better overall form with the way he leads England’s attack and takes the responsibility.
“It’s almost a separate tournament now and you have four knockout games to prepare for and it is a totally different mindset,” Kane had said, before going on to demonstrate exactly what that mindset means. “Now it starts.” And now he has started. Back on the goals trail and England can only be better for that, because it was unthinkable for them to go deep into the World Cup without Kane scoring.
Southgate made all five substitutions and made them relatively early. But Kane, despite the soreness he has suffered in his foot, despite his importance, stayed on. It showed how much scoring really did matter. There would not be another chance but there was still cuteness and cleverness in Kane’s play, and Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly struggled to cope.
Until this game it had not been a World Cup for centre-forwards such as Robert Lewandowski, Romelu Lukaku and, it could be argued, Kane. They have been eclipsed by wide attackers such as Marcus Rashford and Kylian Mbappe. Maybe that will continue but England’s main man is up and running.
Kane against Mbappe on Saturday? It is set up for an epic clash, especially now that the England captain is back among the goals.
When he is accurate, he is absolutely deadly – he has 11 major tournament goals for England