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He wore golden boots. And he has won them too of course. Three as the Premier League’s top scorer, one for outscoring everyone else in a World Cup. It was a fitting way to mark Harry Kane’s century of caps, though. Not the most fitting: that came after the presentations. England 2-0 Finland was Kane 2-0 Finland, a golden night for the golden boots.
Yet there is something unflashy to him. Kane has been defined by goals but he has also exuded a reliability. “I want to score goals,” he said; a bland enough statement but a motto for his career. It was unsurprising, then, on his 100th cap and with England requiring a goal, that Kane obliged. He took Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass, turned away from Robert Ivanov in deft fashion and then delivered the brutal finish, rising as it flew past Lukas Hradecky. It was typical of a man whose hunger is rarely sated by one that he swept in another, with expert precision, from Noni Madueke’s pass.
And this, in a nutshell, is what Kane has turned himself into: a remarkable finisher, but a reliable one. One hundred caps may not prove his most meaningful century: not when he has voiced an ambition to take his tally of international goals into three figures. “The top players in the world have scored more than I have, so there’s targets there to try and achieve,” he added. The down-to-earth delivery can conceal an ambition. The normality of Kane scoring can generate abnormal statistics.
Kane is much more than the numbers but they amount to a formidable body of work: more than 400 goals for clubs and country, 68 in England’s colours. The most recent came with two of his daughters as mascots, with a presentation of a golden cap by Frank Lampard, who is well suited to such ambassadorial duties.
It was Kane’s sort of night. Except in one respect: if he famously finds goals elusive in finals, he has also struggled to score in the Nations League. These were just his third and fourth goals in 20 appearances in the new competition. But he has preyed against Europe’s mid-ranking sides and minnows: records are compiled by proving prolific against Montenegro and Malta, Bulgaria and Albania. He had never faced Finland before but even when Hradecky threatened to win their duel, for Bayer Leverkusen to hold off Bayern Munich again, Kane conjured a response.
He is out on his own as a goalscorer, in a select group of 10 in another respect. The founder member, Billy Wright, was the first man to win 100 England caps. Some of those who followed him looked destined to take their places in such august company. Bobby Charlton and Wayne Rooney, the other two to score on their 100th appearance, were teenage prodigies. Kane wasn’t. He was the teenager who scored five goals in 18 games on loan at Leyton Orient, the rookie who went on loan to Norwich and was granted a lone league start. “I don’t think I was even thinking of 100 caps when I was on loan at Millwall, Leicester and Norwich,” he said. When he broke into the England Under-21 side, Saido Berahino appeared the greater striking prospect. Berahino now plays for Rajasthan United. Kane now plays for Bayern Munich. He rose by stealth and has now assumed a ubiquity.
And in that respect, Lampard was an apt figure to appear on Kane’s landmark night. He, too, was a self-made footballer, one who outstripped every early expectation of his capabilities, a formidable finisher who proved himself with his consistency. He wasn’t touched by genius but he turned himself into the best player he could be.
He kept on going, too: his last cap came at 36, his last game at 38. Kane sees longevity as an achievement in itself, his admiration for Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Tom Brady in part because of their remarkable staying power. Kane is the quickest player to 100 caps in terms of time: after scoring 79 seconds into his debut, he was taken off 80 minutes into his 100th.
It meant there was no sixth England hat-trick: Carsley’s decision to substitute him at least brought a reward in the form of a standing ovation. It was, though, the seventh time in nine games that Kane has gone off before the final whistle. Gareth Southgate took to replacing him in Euro 2024. His underwhelming performances brought suggestions of decline, which Kane has been keen to rebuff. “Whenever you are doubted, it makes you more hungry to prove people wrong,” he said.
Perhaps a brace against Finland alters little in that respect. It certainly doesn’t change the major criticism of him. It is easy to mock Kane for the lack of medals; even joining Bayern has yet to yield a trophy. But the individual accomplishments are still testament to his success. For now, the lone man to captain England in two finals is 10th out of 10. But by some point in 2027, he could be their most-capped player. And rather closer to his century of goals.
