Harry Kane was the first England player to congratulate Wayne Rooney. It was September 2015, Rooney had just scored his 50th international goal to break Sir Bobby Charlton’s record for the country – from the penalty spot against Switzerland at Wembley – and Kane was straight over to him, whispering something in his ear before embracing him.
Back then, Kane was at the start. Aged 22, he had come on as a 58th- minute substitute for his fourth cap and he would open the scoring shortly afterwards with his third goal at this level. Rooney’s late penalty would close out a 2-0 European Championship qualifying victory.
What Kane remembers is how the emotion gripped Rooney. “I saw how much it meant to him and his family,” he says. And it is also probably fair to say that the half-century must have felt like a dot on the horizon for Kane, even if he has always set ambitious personal targets.
It is now upon him and Rooney’s record of 53 is not much further away, too. Kane goes into Saturday’s Nations League opener against Hungary in Budapest on 49 goals and the opportunity is tantalising, especially with three more ties in the competition to follow over the next week-and-a-half – against Germany in Munich and Italy and Hungary in Wolverhampton.
Rooney has said that it would be better if Kane were to break the record before the World Cup in Qatar, which kicks off on 21 November, to remove a potential distraction. England have two more games before it – the return Nations League fixtures against Italy and Germany on 23 and 26 September.
Kane, in his own words, would “like to break it as soon as possible,” although he is “someone who doesn’t let that stuff affect me when I’m on the pitch,” when it is all about helping the team to win. But the broader impression that Kane gave on Friday was of the time going so fast, from Rooney’s record-breaking goal to his own shot at it.
“It all goes so quickly,” Kane says. “The major tournaments come around so quickly, the games come quickly and, year-by-year, you edge up that leaderboard … it’s great to be close to 50.”
The World Cup will be here before we know it and, for Kane and the England manager, Gareth Southgate, it is about wringing every last drop out of the time they have together, which is not much or, at least, nowhere near as much as they would like. The Nations League group phase, consequently, assumes far greater significance than it might ordinarily do. It is not so much a tune-up for Qatar. It is the only tune-up.
“We don’t have many days on the training pitch between now and our first match in the finals so everything we do has to be focused,” Southgate says. “These Nations League matches are great preparation in that they are high-level games. They are different sorts of tests and we need to see some different players, as well. We need to learn about one or two things. But we need to keep winning football matches because it’s an important habit to have. We also want to make the last four of this competition if we can.”
England have recent history with Hungary and it has been acrimonious. The 4-0 World Cup qualifying win in Budapest last September was marred by some home fans directing monkey chants at the England players, Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham, while the 1-1 draw at Wembley in the same competition the following month saw crowd trouble in the visiting enclosure. It was sparked when Metropolitan police officers entered the stand to arrest a supporter for a “racially aggravated public order offence following comments made towards a steward”.
In football terms, Southgate notes how the Budapest game was “very different to anything I’ve seen from Hungary in the last two or three years” because they were so open. The tighter organisation at Wembley was more characteristic and England have to expect something similar on Saturday. That was the night when Southgate started with two attack-minded No 8s in a 4-3-3 system. It did not work.
Kane enters in a good place. This time last year, he wanted to leave Tottenham but it does not feel as though we are in the same transfer saga territory with him. Kane finished the domestic season in excellent form, earning a PFA player of the year nomination; Spurs have qualified for the Champions League and the manager, Antonio Conte, is planning his future with the club.
“Whenever you finish strongly, there is always a freer mind going onto the international stage,” Kane says. “I feel confident, I feel free.”
Southgate adds: “Harry seems very happy, his football is good. Spurs have qualified for the Champions League so, when you’re a player, you want to be involved in the biggest possible matches. Whenever a player is settled and happy, it makes a huge difference to the way they play.”
Kane mentioned how the England rugby star, Marcus Smith, had watched the squad train at St George’s Park and spent time with them. Kane is obsessed by taking tips from athletes in different fields and it is no secret that he has picked the brains of Tom Brady, the American football icon, among others. Kane loves Brady’s sport and has said that he would one day like to become an NFL kicker while his passion for golf is also well-documented.
“I guess my ideal career would be [to win] a World Cup, a Super Bowl and maybe a Masters green jacket,” Kane says, with a smile. It is the first item on the bucket list that consumes him. The upcoming four matches stand to be instructive.
