Harry Kane is one goal away from standing alone as England’s greatest World Cup goalscorer.
The Bayern Munich captain reached double figures with a first-half brace against Croatia, drawing level with Gary Lineker on ten goals at the tournament.
Kane is coming off the best season of his career, having won the European Golden Boot in Germany. One more goal in the United States would make him England’s outright leading scorer at World Cups, a mark Lineker has held alone for 36 years.
England have two group games still to come, against Ghana and Panama. Lineker, watching the record fall, was happy to talk about it.
Gary Lineker delivers his Harry Kane verdict
Lineker scored his 10 across two tournaments, six at Mexico 1986 and four at Italia 1990. Half of Kane’s came from the penalty spot, including a record fifth against Croatia — and the former striker had a little fun with that detail.
Speaking during a guest appearance on ITV, Lineker said: “I’m really pleased for him. He’s had an extra tournament, mind you, and there are a lot of penalties but, you know what, we’ll give him that.”
He then followed the tongue-in-cheek comment with: “No, look. I mean this. I think he is our best-ever No 9.”
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Daniel Sturridge came off the bench to score a 93rd minute winner!
Beating it now looks a matter of time. Kane has 10 goals in 12 World Cup appearances.
He’ll take top spot barring a complete capitulation from here on out, and if such a thing were to happen, it’s hard to see England progressing to the final on July 19th.
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