And which of the greats was his predecessor.
One of the highlights of this international break was Harry Kane’s record as England’s all-time top scorer. It is especially honorable that the Tottenham scorer did this in the match against the strong Italian team, which the British beat in Naples with the score 2:1. And Kane himself scored a goal from the penalty spot, nominated for the game from the hand of Spinazzola.
Kane street
It seemed inevitable and it had to happen at the World Cup in Qatar where the 29-year-old Kane scored 51 goals in 75 appearances. He only needed two goals to overtake Wayne Rooney on the all-time top goalscorer list. In his five games world Cup-2022 Kane scored a goal in the round of 16 against Senegal (3:0), and also converted a penalty in the quarter-final against France. The record could have fallen in the same fight, but Kane’s second penalty faded and postponed this result.
Interestingly, the international careers of Kane and Rooney, the previous record holder, overlapped for some time. Both players shared the same pitch for England ten times before Wayne ended his 13-year international career in November 2018 in a friendly against United States of America at Wembley. Kane was on the bench in this match.
Although Kane has beaten Rooney by just one goal, Harry is far ahead in terms of goal average. It took him 81 games to score 54 goals and Rooney scored his 53 goals in 120 games. Kane is averaging 0.65 goals per game, while Rooney is averaging 0.44. By the way, Charlton (0.46 goals per game), Lineker (0.60 goals per game), Owen (0.45 goals per game) and Shearer (0.48 goals per game) are better than Wayne.). We can say that Rooney owed his success to his longevity in the national team.
Kane scored his 50th England goal last June, on his 71st cap. His accurate penalty kick earned Germany a tie in the League of Nations. And Rooney’s 50th goal came in the 107th game. But also at 29 years old. After the anniversary goal, Kane has scored just one goal in the next four previous meetings world Cup-2022. Furthermore, he also scored from the penalty spot against the German national team (3: 3). Here one might think that the contribution of penalties to Kane’s record is very large. But there is nothing surprising in the goalscorer hitting the penalty shootout. It is worth noting that out of 54 goals for the national team, Kane scored 18 from the “point”. He judges for yourself whether it is a lot or a little.
Despite nine England goals in his first three World Cup matches in Qatar, Kane scored none. Until the playoffs he remained silent, even though he brought many benefits to the team, helping his teammates to score.
Rooney Street
Let’s dive into the past. Wayne was 29 when he converted a penalty against Switzerland during Euro 2016 qualifying. He became England’s new top scorer in September 2015. This goal was notable in many ways. It was Rooney’s 50th international cap and the 300th of his career for club and country. In addition, in the national team, Wayne “knocked down” a record that stood much longer than it is now – Kane. Bobby Charlton held the title for 45 years with 49 goals. Just four days before a career-high goal, Rooney equalized Sir Charlton with another penalty in the 6-0 win against San Marino that secured England European qualification at the time.
Interestingly, Rooney scored his career-high goal shortly after 21-year-old Kane came on, who opened the scoring by scoring his third goal in four games for the national team. This came after Harry’s breakthrough season with Spurs with 31 goals in all competitions. Speaking after the match, Rooney praised his new teammate highly and also admitted that Kane’s appearance has started to make him fear a place in the national team. But it’s unlikely that Wayne then thought he’d see a future record holder who would surpass his success.
Veterans Trail
Prior to Rooney’s record, the top scorer since 1970 was Charlton with 49 balls. His career also lasted 13 years, but during this time, unlike Rooney, Charlton played 106 matches. He made his debut for the national team in 1958, and already in June 1963, having scored a hat-trick against Switzerland (8: 1), Charlton reached the records of Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse, who had 30 goals for the national team. Charlton scored a record 31st goal in October of that year as the English defeated Wales 4–0.
It is interesting that then there was a full-time struggle for a record. Charlton’s success ended nearly a year later when Jimmy Greaves, who had also been ‘chased’ successfully by Kane to Spurs that year, surpassed his teammate with a hat-trick against Northern Ireland in October 1964 He was then in tremendous form and scored 11 goals in his last ten games, as well as 32 in total to that point.
Greaves continued to score at a more measured pace and Charlton regained their record in 1968 when he scored his 45th international goal. Greaves’ mark was 44 goals in 57 games. Charlton have scored five goals in their last 21 appearances. At the World Cup in Mexico he could have reached round 50, but in the defense of the title the Englishman lost to Brazil in the quarterfinals and Charlton did not score.
Two decades later, Lineker came close to setting Charlton’s record, but finished his eight-year international career in 1992 with 48 goals in 80 appearances. Only in 2015 did Rooney submit to the 50-goal mark. Now Kane has left this competitor behind. All indications are that Harry will raise his account even further and set a powerful new standard for generations.
