Read for 5 minutes16 Jul 2026 05:28 PM IST
Harry Kane stood with his hands on his hips and stared at the grass. Around him, Atlanta Stadium split into two voices, one of which had nothing to do with him. Lionel Messi came, took Kane’s head in both hands and pulled him onto his shoulder. Let Kane stay there. Then he straightened up, turned towards the England end, walked the length of the pitch and slowly began clapping at the English crowd. He found Jude Bellingham and held him. Bellingham, ten years his junior, appeared a few minutes later with his face in his hands. Anthony Gordon, who England couldn’t score, stood aloof from it all, watching with his hands on his hips.
England took the lead from the 55th minute. Enzo Fernandez bent one over in the 85th. Messi crossed two minutes into stoppage time and Lautaro Martinez headed in the winner. “It’s a similar story to what happened in previous tournaments,” Kane said afterwards. “We did very well for those 60 minutes. We scored. We deserved to go on. And then, for one reason or another, we struggled to keep the ball.”
He has recited versions of this sentence in Moscow, Wembley, Al Khor, Berlin. He is 32 years old and the word is perfect.
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In 1999, on the first day of Ridgeway Rovers at Chingford, a coach called Dave Bricknell asked his six-year-olds if anyone wanted to hit a goal. Kane’s hand went up. “I thought I’d find a goalie,” says Bricknell. Parents on the touchline kept him company. Arsenal took him, looked at him, decided he was too chubby, too uncomfortable and let him go. Spurs took another look, then spent years chasing him out, Leyton Orient, Millwall, a relegation battle, a forgotten Under-20 World Cup in Turkey. Peter Taylor, who coached that team, says he could not have predicted the career. He said, “You can’t meet a nicer boy. That’s not a prediction.”
“He didn’t care if he missed, because he knew another chance would come.”
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The opportunity came. It always came. This is the part that the record books show and the part that tells the least.
In the 30th minute in Moscow in 2018, England took the lead against Croatia in the World Cup semi-final and Kane headed home from two yards back. He shot. Goalkeeper Danijel Subasic has a hand in it. The ball came back. He shot again. The ball hit the post and hit Subasic’s feet. Subasic ran back out of nowhere and threw him to the ground to turn it over with his feet from two yards, having already beaten him once.
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Harry Kane in the World Cup 2026 semi-final against Argentina. (AP)
In the 108th minute at Wembley in 2021, England leading Italy in the European final, Kane crosses from the right, the ball travels across the six-yard box, Stones reaches the far post with his header. Donnarumma came off his line and cleared it with both fists. There were two minutes of extra time left.
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Al Khor in Qatar, 2022 does not show books. In the tie with France, in the 84th minute, Kane already scored a goal. He puts it the same way he always puts it, down, right, the corner he owns. But this time he released his leg differently, climbing instead of staying down, clearing the bar by several feet. He knew before he even landed. The shirt was over his face before anyone on the field could stop looking at the ball.
***
Bayern Munich played a pre-season friendly at Tottenham last summer. Kane went back to the stadium where he had been for nineteen years. Bayern won. Finally a small trophy was produced and the team assembled. Cain shook his head, not picking it up, not putting anything in front of people he wouldn’t leave alone.
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His strikers coach Alan Russell once identified the distinction that unlocked him. “Is he a nice guy? No. He’s a nice guy. Nice people take advantage of him.” Beneath the gentleness is something hard. Here six goals in six games, England’s all-time World Cup record, has been overtaken by Gary Lineker, aged 32, a striker. Gentleness also has a source.
Kate Goodland has known them since they were pupils at the same Chingford school, with the two photographed with David Beckham aged 11 and 12 in 2005, before neither had any idea what the picture meant. He tapes his wedding ring before every match. Four boys were watching somewhere on Wednesday night.
Afterwards, when asked about his England future, Kane looked to the man who had just beaten him, still deciding matches at 39. “As you see at the other end Lion There, he is still performing at the highest level. So I never want to limit these things.”
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Bricknell’s son didn’t care to miss. Another chance may come.