Harry Kane, who equalled Peter Shilton’s record of 125 caps on Tuesday, commemorated the milestone with a brace against Czechia to take England onto nine points, still trailing Spain’s flawless record
The English striker, one of the leading contenders for the Ballon d’Or to be presented in London in a fortnight, rose to the occasion on his landmark evening. Having forced an early Czech own goal, he struck twice to elevate his international haul to 91 goals, pulling further clear at the summit of the national team’s all-time scoring charts ahead of Wayne Rooney, who sits second on 53 goals for the ‘Three Lions’.
Harry Kane, who now boasts six goals in this UEFA Nations League campaign, took centre stage for an England side that rotated several key names, with Anthony Gordon starting on the bench. However, they once again leaned on Jude Bellingham to orchestrate the midfield. The Real Madrid player, fresh from scoring once and providing three assists against Croatia, endured a quieter evening, unlike teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold, who earned his second start and pulled the strings in attack.
The right-back initiated the move for the opener, which arrived in bizarre circumstances when Kane’s delivery was turned into his own net by Vladimir Coufal, leaving his goalkeeper with no chance. It was an inexplicable own goal, but it handed England the initiative before they put the result beyond doubt on the stroke of half-time. Following slick, one-touch interplay between Elliot Anderson and Morgan Rogers, Kane swept home his 90th international goal.
Number 91 arrived after the restart, finishing off a corner delivered by Lewis Hall. It proved the ideal way to cap off the evening in London and underline that should he fail to lift the Ballon d’Or on 26 October, it will certainly not be for a lack of merit. He remains one of the world’s premier marksmen, arguably England’s greatest ever player, and a forward who, at 33 years of age and close to penning a contract extension with Bayern Munich, still has plenty to offer.
With this 3-0 win, England move onto nine points. Following their defeat to Spain on matchday one, Thomas Tuchel’s men have notched three consecutive victories without conceding, scoring 12 goals in the process. Nonetheless, they remain three points adrift of Luis de la Fuente’s side, while widening their advantage over Croatia to six points. Czechia sit bottom of the group with zero points from a possible twelve.
