Tottenham talisman Harry Kane wrapped up his England programme for the year with the winning goal in Sunday’s decisive Nations League encounter with Croatia.
With England’s 2018 fixtures completed, Tottenham’s Harry Kane can certainly be happy with his exploits at international level this calendar year.
The high-flying Tottenham Hotspur striker was given the captain’s armband by Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate ahead of the 2018 World Cup.
Kane then went on to win the Golden Boot in Russia with six goals, as England equalled their best finish at the tournament since Italia 90 by reaching the semi-finals.
The 25-year-old Spurs star was, however, criticised by some fans for only scoring one goal in the knockout stages of the World Cup – a penalty against Colombia, and going into Sunday’s decisive Nations League encounter with Croatia at Wembley, Kane had not scored in any of his seven previous England matches.
Despite providing two assists for his fellow countrymen in England’s superb recent 3-2 win against Spain, criticism of the Spurs talisman never appeared far away.
But with England on the verge of relegation from League A, Kane popped up in the 85th minute to slide home Ben Chilwell’s free kick and drag the Three Lions into the finals of the competition with a 2-1 triumph.
Aside from ending a run of 747 minutes without an England goal, Kane also helped his country claim a small measure of redemption against Croatia, the nation that bundled them out of the World Cup at the semi-final stage.
A number of Spurs fans who had followed the game subsequently took to Twitter to hail their home-grown hero:
The finals of the Nations League will take place between 5-9 June next year, with the draw taking place on 3 December.
Kane now returns to Spurs where he will prepare alongside his club teammates for next Saturday’s Premier League encounter with Chelsea.
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