Sometimes, the simplest of things can trigger a childhood memory. For Harry Kane on this midweek afternoon, it’s just a single red stripe. The 28-year-old is standing in front of FourFourTwo, surveying the collection of retro England shirts we’ve brought along for today’s photoshoot, when one particular jersey leaps out to him. “That one,” he says, instantly linking it with a moment he’s never forgotten. “From when we beat Germany 5-1.”
Back then, Kane was an impressionable young pupil at Larkswood Primary Academy in Chingford, when he perched in front of the television one September evening and witnessed a match that inspired him for years to come. “It was an incredible game,” he says. “What was that, 2001? I was eight years old and you just remember something that stands out like that. Michael Owen’s hat-trick, Steven Gerrard’s goal, Emile Heskey with the other one. Just amazing.”
As he watched England’s victory unfold, that wide-eyed eight-yearold had no idea what future lay ahead of him. A World Cup Golden Boot, a famous moment of his own against Germany at Euro 2020, and already more goals for England than Owen scored in the whole of his distinguished career. Today, Kane sits on 49 goals from just 69 games for the Three Lions – it’s a matter of when, not if, he matches Wayne Rooney’s record of 53 goals. It’s not impossible it could even happen in the next few weeks.
If you’d told Kane all of that back in 2001, his mind would have been blown. “Back then I wouldn’t have even thought about it!” he laughs, admitting that reality has already gone far beyond that young boy’s wildest dreams. “It’s really special to be on 49 England goals. It’s been an amazing journey so far.”
HERE IN 79 SECONDS
For Kane, that England journey has been amazing from the very start – since a goal with his first touch for the Three Lions, at that. Some take years to bag for their country; Kane needed seconds. Looking back, it was a pretty obvious sign that he was destined for greatness.
There’s a smile on the striker’s face as he thinks back to that senior debut against Lithuania in March 2015 – so rapidly has he galloped towards the England goalscoring record since then that it doesn’t even seem that long ago. “Yeah, I know,” he chuckles. “Every season goes by so quickly, we play so many games – we pretty much play or train for 49 weeks of the year, one after the other, so you don’t really get time to process it all.”
As we chat today at TOCA Social, inside London’s O2 complex, he gets a brief moment just to sit and reflect on that special evening in his career. “An amazing day, an amazing game,” he says. “I had all of my family there – my brother, mum and dad, my wife. I had extended family there as well – everyone was just so excited to see
