Harry Kane was on the pitch the night Wayne Rooney broke the England goalscoring record.
It was at Wembley on September 8, 2015, when Rooney scored a late penalty to surpass Sir Bobby Charlton as England’s all time leading scorer. That night remains imprinted in Kane’s memory because it showed just how special it is to write your name into the history books and has driven him ever since.
Kane also scored that night - the third goal of his international career - in a 2-0 win over Switzerland, Rooney went on to score three more goals in his England career to take his tally to 53. Now Kane, 28, has the chance to break that record in England’s next four games as he is on 49 goals - level with Charlton - and it is making history which inspires the Tottenham striker.
England captain Kane is obsessed with records and, with arguably another two World Cups in front of him, he could put the goals tally out of sight. Kane said: “Of course I think it would be an incredible achievement. I was lucky enough to be playing on the pitch and actually scored when Wayne broke the record himself.
“I saw how much it meant to him and his family. I did not really think that far ahead at that stage. But to be where I am now - four goals behind Wayne with plenty of games coming up this year- it would be an incredible achievement.
“Whenever you are in amongst the names of Rooney and Gary Lineker and Charlton and players like that you are doing something worthwhile.”
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Kane wants to play in every game, take every opportunity to score and yet two of England’s Nations League games are being played behind closed doors. His family will not be in Hungary because of the crowd ban - albeit more than 30,000 kids are being allowed in - or at Molineux for next Saturday’s game with Italy while the Football Association also serve a on game stadium ban.
Kane admits he would love them to be there to see him write his name into the history books. “When it comes to breaking records or achievements like that, of course you would love to have every situation to be perfect with thousands of fans, friends and family there,” he said.
“Sometimes it works out that way and you are lucky to experience that. But also sometimes things don’t pan out the way you want them to. But my first thought is about winning the games.”
Kane’s other sporting loves are golf and the NFL - he idolises Tom Brady - but winning the World Cup is still the pinnacle even if he admits there are other things on his dream bucket list. He will start in Hungary, he is certain to get the nod in Germany next Tuesday and maybe even a four day break before England face Italy next Saturday means he will start all three.
It is hard to imagine that, no matter how good his form, Tammy Abraham will get a chance to start. And the reality is that England’s World Cup hopes - and Kane’s dream - hinges on their Captain Marvel being fit.
He added: “I guess the ideal career would be a World Cup, a Super Bowl and maybe a Masters green jacket, if I am lucky enough to do that as well. Football is my first thought always and it is what has got me to where I am now.
“I still enjoy training and every game I play. I would love to win the World Cup, there is not one player who wouldn’t. It is my next opportunity to win a trophy, so really looking forward to that.
“The last two tournaments have been good, we have come really close to creating some real history that will last forever. We have that opportunity again at the end of the year and I really look forward to that chance to hopefully win a major trophy with our country. But there is still a lot of hard work from now until then.”
