Harry Kane wants to be England’s top goalscorer of all time before leading the country in the World Cup this winter. The Tottenham Hotspur striker has notched 49 goals in just 69 appearances for England and lies only four goals behind Wayne Rooney’s total of 53, which came from 119 matches. England have six games ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, four in the next fortnight – starting with Saturday’s Nations League match in Hungary – and two more in September and Kane is hoping that he can break the record before the tournament arrives.
Harry Kane said: “I’d like to break it as soon as possible, I’d love to score as many goals as I can in the next four games [this month] before the World Cup and see where we go from there, but I’m someone who doesn’t let that stuff affect me when I’m on the pitch the Spurs forward said in his press conference ahead of Saturday’s game. I have a job to do, it’s not about goalscoring records and thinking about stuff like that when I’m on the pitch, it’s about the team getting three points and winning the game. So of course I’d love to do it as soon as possible but if it doesn’t happen for some reason and it goes into the World Cup then so be it, the World Cup is probably the best competition in the world so I’ll have a lot of focus on trying to achieve that and go on and win that, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
Kane made his England debut in March 2015, netting against Lithuania and now he will lead his country as captain once again to a major tournament.
Harry Kane added: “It seems like a long time ago when I made my debut now, at the time it was just about playing for England, that was one of the best feelings, still is one of the best feelings every time I pull on that shirt. Back then it wasn’t a number I had in my head, of course I wanted to score as many goals as possible and play as long as possible. It all goes so quickly, the major tournaments come around so quickly, the games come quickly and year-by-year you edge up that leaderboard. It’s great to be close to 50, obviously I am still a few goals behind Wazza but the most important thing is to go out there and perform for my team and that is what I’ll try and do.”
For Kane and his England team-mates, every one of these coming six international will be crucial in forming how they will enter the World Cup in November and the captain can see everyone in Gareth Southgate’s squad pushing to secure their place on the plane to Qatar.
Harry Kane said: “What it does do is every training session is really important, every game you play is really important, of course I think the reason we have been really good as a team over the last four or five years is the competition for places, people pushing each other in training and in games. It is four games in a short period of time, I am sure there will be rotation, there are five subs in each games, there will be opportunities to come in and impress the manager. I feel we have created a culture here where everyone in every training session and every game, is ready to give it a go and give it everything. There are some great opportunities, and I’m included in that, every time I step out on to the pitch I want to try and show what I can do and impress Gareth. It’s four more games, six more before the World Cup so there is not a lot of time to prepare and it comes around quickly so we have to be ready for every opportunity.”
England’s match comes within the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee holidays and the nation’s football captain was asked in his press conference just how patriotic he is.
Harry Kane concluded: “Just from my own experience of growing up, I’ve always been someone who’s loved my country. I’ve watched my country play football and all sports really. Sitting there watching the cricket yesterday, happy at one stage, sad at another stage. Of course, I’m extremely patriotic of my country, this weekend will be an amazing occasion for our country, and a great celebration of an incredible Queen that we’ve had. Each circumstance is different but what this weekend will show is that the country will come together like it does in major tournaments as well. With football we feel like we’ve done that over the last couple of tournaments. It’s been great. Whenever there’s a celebration where everyone can be together and enjoy each other’s company that’s a real positive thing not just for us but for the world as well.”
