England send a Harry Kane warning
● Harry Kane, the one world-class player in England’s football team, gets a first chance tomorrow to validate that assessment by Gary Lineker and banish any scepticism about graduating from club to country.
The England captain begins his global trial tomorrow against Tunisia in Group G of the World Cup.
After a goalless and muted Euro 2016, there remain concerns whether he might be just a club football hotshot from Tottenham or a leader of nations.
He is certainly more Alan Shearer than Gary Lineker, according to Roy Hodgson, the England manager at Euro 2016, who was as baffled as everyone else by Kane’s maladroit performances in a dud campaign.
“Gary was quick, a penalty-box player, very sharp. I think with Harry, his hold-up play is very good,” Hodgson said.
“He can actually drop and see passes, play people in. He’s got enough pace, like Alan had enough pace, and of course he’s got the strength.”
In 38-game league campaigns, Kane is copper-bottomed quality. His average over the past four seasons is 26 goals: hence, the new six-year deal Tottenham scrambled together before England left for Russia. Kane beds down in Repino near St Petersburg now as the heir to the great England centre-forward tradition — and obsession.
The fixation is rooted ultimately in English social history, where the striker was a commanding figure, on whose shoulders teams would stand or fall. Implicit in this role is an ability to save the day, carry the side through and to be the hero.
Shearer spoke this week about the captain’s job, defending it against those who dismiss it as a coin toss and a handshake with dignitaries. But with Kane’s seniority comes a greater duty to carry his almost automatic scoring for Spurs to Russia.
Another ankle injury in March removed him for more than a fortnight, but subsequently there were seven goals in 10 games for club and country to allay concerns about his fitness.
“When you look at his make-up and what he’s got, it’s very hard to find a chink in the armour. I think the problem for Harry, when he came with high hopes for Euro 2016, was that he was never able to reach anything like the form he’d shown for Tottenham.”
The picture for England this time is settled, with the team finding a pattern of play not dissimilar to Tottenham’s. Everything is laid out for Kane to excel.
“He’s our one world-class player. We have potential world-class players coming through in the future, whereas Harry is there now,” Lineker said.
“He is just coming into his prime and he is proven. You need to peak at the right time, you need a bit of luck and you need your team to play well, as a striker. He’s the real deal and he won’t be scared of it.”
Recalling his own time as bearer of England’s yearning, Lineker said: “It’s exciting. You have to relish it. Strikers by their very nature have to be calm, they have to be cold. You can’t be nervous as a striker, and Harry won’t be. He’ll be excited, he’ll be looking forward to it.
“When you are perceived as being the main striker going into a tournament, it’s a sign that you are doing all right.
“That should boost your confidence. That’s how it worked with me. You have to be equable — not too affected by things that go wrong and not too elated by things that go right.
“Euro 2016 was at quite an early stage of his career. He was at the stage then that a lot of the young players going into this World Cup are perhaps at now. He is now ahead of that, he has matured and he has had two more seasons banging in goals. He is a different animal now.
“You need so many things to come together at the right time. You also need a bit of luck. One goes in, and then you’re off. And then it falls for you. You just have to keep going and keep going.”