Kane spurred on by England’s World Cup class of ‘66

MOSCOW: England captain Harry Kane is drawing inspiration from the country’s 1966 World Cup heroes as the striker looks to fi re his team to a surprise fi nal appearance in Moscow.

The Tottenham forward is the tournament’s leading scorer with six goals, putting him level with Gary Lineker’s 1986 haul, ahead of Wednesday’s semi-fi nal against Croatia.

Kane became just the third England player to hit a World Cup hat-trick in the 6-1 rout of Panama, joining Lineker and Geoff Hurst, the star of the 1966 fi nal victory over West Germany.

Hu r s t b e l i eve s Ga r e t h Southgate’s side can match their finest hour and go all the way in Russia, and Kane admits the support from such England greats is further incentive to succeed.

“To meet any heroes from ‘ 66 is incredible. It’s so much inspiration.

“Obviously it’s been a long time since England have done well in a major tournament,” Kane said after the 2- 0 quarter-final win over Sweden.

“I’m proud to make ex-players proud and I’m sure it’s bringing back memories for them.

“We said we want to write our own history and hopefully we can go one step further and get to the fi nal.”

England are through to the last four of the World Cup for the fi rst time since 1990, when they lost to Germany on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Turin.

“A lot of us weren’t even born when that was happening,” said the 24-year- old Kane.

“We’ve just got to try and keep it going, we’re one step closer to what is the biggest game as a professional.”

As World Cup fever mounts back home during a long summer heatwave, the country is hopeful of reaching a first final in more than half a century. — AFP