Classy captain shows sense of occasion to rewrite records
On a landmark night for the national team, someone had to seize the occasion for some personal milestones. That someone, inevitably, was Harry Kane. The numbers alone are staggering, with Kane sensing, against a makeshift Montenegro defence, shorn of their leader Stefan Savic, that there were goals to be plundered and records chased down. Kane sniffed it, sensed it and locked in.
By half-time the numbers swelled. Two easy headers and a smart turn and finish meant he had collected a third hat-trick for England and the 13th of his career. It could have been four goals, and the chance to take a penalty, but for the officials failing to spot a handball from another Kane header, with a sense that Malcolm Macdonald’s record of five goals in one game for England, claimed against Cyprus in 1975, would go.
And maybe it would, had he stayed on longer than 57 minutes.
Record books are there to be rewritten and Kane wants his name in the pantheon. Those three goals took him to 19 in 20 games for club and country this season and to think there was even a debate prior to this game as to whether Tammy Abraham – who came on and scored his first England goal – should start ahead of him.
Kane is England’s captain, their leader, and those goals mean he has scored 24 times for his country while wearing the armband and no player has ever scored as many. He overtook Vivian Woodward whose career peaked at the turn of the 20th century.
The more significant landmark was surpassing Alan Shearer, Nat Lofthouse and Sir Tom Finney who have all scored 30 times for England. Kane has 31, with his next target being Michael Owen with a total of 40 goals. After that it is just Jimmy Greaves, Sir Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker and the record goalscorer Wayne Rooney with 53 goals.
“Somebody mentioned some of the names that he’s gone past,” Gareth Southgate said. “He’s an incredible goalscorer, that’s the obvious part of his game, but the link play – he’s a number nine that can play and link as an outstanding [number] 10 as well. So, not only does he lead the line for us, provide the goal threat, but he also provides opportunities for others and I’ve said before, what an unselfish player he is. But of course when those opportunities are there he’s absolutely ruthless.”
Rooney was among the players on the pitch at half-time and he knows that his record will inevitably fall to Kane, who is still just 26. He has scored his goals in only 44 games – a rate of 0.7 goals per game. Greaves, whose claim to be the country’s most natural goalscorer is universally accepted, is the only English striker who can better that average having struck 44 goals in 57 appearances (0.77 goals per game). Even so Greaves is no longer the top-scorer for England while playing for Tottenham. Kane is.
In such a youthful England team, in such a young England squad – half of which is aged 22 or under – Kane and Jordan Henderson are now the senior figures. Kane showed his presence in rushing over when Marko Vesovic nastily pushed his head towards Marcus Rashford.
It has not been an easy season for Kane, though. He has those hat-tricks but the last three have all been scored for England while Spurs have struggled. His frustration is obvious and maybe explains why he did not feel able to speak ahead of this milestone match, with Harry Maguire taking those media duties.
Maybe also it showed that ruthless approach and, going back over his goals, it was the efficiency of his finishing, as much as the deficiency of the opponent, that made them. The headers were easy because he made them look easy. Kane cushioned one; he guided the other. He did not need to go for power or rely upon it.
His hat-trick goal was similarly deft as the certainty of his control gave him the opportunity to, with one touch, turn and shoot back across the goalkeeper Milan Mijatovic with the angle of the ball giving him no chance before it nestled just inside the far post.
There would be no more goals for Kane on this occasion but there is a sense of inevitability as he chases down more records. “We got the job done and wanted to put on a show in our 1,000th game. With five goals in the first half, I think we did that,” Kane said. England did and he did.