Harry Kane’s Unfinished Business

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Written by: Rob McGarr, MAN Magazine editor, in partnership with FourFourTwo

9.14PM SPORT 7th June, 2002. England captain David Beckham steps up to take a penalty in a vital World Cup group stage match against Argentina. The stakes are sky high, not least because Beckham was sent off against the same opposition during the previous World Cup, and has spent four years being vilified by press and fans as a result. As Beckham drills home the redemptive spot-kick, cheering at home is eight-year-old Harry Kane, allowed to stay up late specially to watch the action from Japan. “I’d say his penalty against Argentina was my standout memory of watching England at World Cups,” says Kane, now 27, the same age Beckham was that night in Sapporo. “Given all he’d been through after 1998, for him to step up like that and win us such a huge game was a great moment. He was a big role model for me. The 2002 World Cup is the first one I really remember well.” England bowed out at the quarter-final stage that year, breaking the heart of a football-mad lad from Walthamstow. “We had a great team and I thought 9.14PM, we had a chance of winning it,” recalls Kane. “I’ve got vivid memories of watching the Brazil game – England going 1-0 up, but then Rivaldo getting the equaliser and Ronaldinho scoring the famous free-kick to knock us out. I was only eight and the game was on early in the morning, so we all watched it at school in the assembly hall. It was a long, hard day at school after that.”

A young Kane no doubt spent some of the day’s lessons sympathising with then England goalkeeper David Seaman, the man caught out by Ronaldinho’s famous “did he mean it?” free kick, especially as he himself spent more time in goal than scoring goals at that age.

“We used to go over the park behind our house and play between two trees,” says Kane, with a wistful smile. “Charlie [Harry’s older brother] would stick me in goal and take shots at me for hours. I was quite good in goal as a kid. At Ridgeway Rovers [where Kane played between the ages of six and 11] I was originally tried out as a goalkeeper. I loved throwing myself about.”

Although the young Kane never played a competitive match as a goalkeeper, he would still spend training time in nets during his nownotorious season-long spell with Arsenal as a seven-year-old. Tottenham’s homegrown hero was in the Gunners’ academy for less than 12 months, but that was long enough for him to be pictured in the famous red shirt, an image that would end up being shared across the world many years later, as Arsenal fans tried to undermine their North London rivals’ “he’s one of our own” chants.

“He was a decent keeper,” recalls Alex Welsh, who was an academy coach with Arsenal at the time. “But you could see even then that he also had what it took to be a striker. His heart wasn’t really in goalkeeping, probably. We’d get the goalkeepers in pairs taking it in turns to serve and keep goal. Harry loved serving, because it meant he had the chance to shoot and score.”

Kane’s time spent guarding the net has probably contributed to his innate ability to find it. “A striker who has been a goalkeeper can see things from the goalie’s perspective,” Welsh explains. “They know what the keeper likes and doesn’t like. He learned that a keeper doesn’t like a striker who can find space away from defenders; who knows where the ball will drop and is always there; who shoots while the keeper is off-balance.”

Nowadays, Kane has learned that being pictured in an Arsenal shirt is a crime akin to being sent off in a pivotal World Cup match. “I wanted to wear a Tottenham kit, but I don’t think that would’ve gone down well,” he says, explaining that now infamous photo. “I was eight years old. I was at Arsenal for a year and obviously I was a kid, I just wanted to play football.

I’ve been at Spurs since I was 11 and I’ve always loved the club. I’ve been here 16 years and hopefully many more years to come.”

Alongside his pride of representing Spurs’ cockerel, a young Kane was forever dreaming of pulling on the three lions and representing his country at a big tournament, in whatever position they needed him.

“If I wasn’t playing football, I’d be watching,” he says. “I would have the World Cup and Euros sticker books and the wall charts too. I remember collecting the England coins one year as well.”

With more than 50 caps now under his belt, Kane, who will lead England as captain at this summer’s COVID-delayed European Championships, is living a dream come true.

“50 caps is a special achievement,” he smiles. “It’s gone so quickly. It feels like only yesterday I was making my debut. You have to cherish the moments, take it all in, and look forward to what’s to come. My aim is to get as many caps as possible and hopefully one day get to 100 caps. There’s still plenty more in the tank.”

Given Kane’s status now – England captain; Golden Boot winner at the 2018 World Cup; ninth in the list of alltime Premier League goalscorers; MBE recipient – it’s easy to forget that he didn’t burst onto the scene in the ‘boy wonder’ mould of a Michael Owen or a Wayne Rooney. At the age Kane scored his first Premier League goal, in his ninth top-flight appearance (20 years and 253 days), Owen had scored 50 Premier League goals in 98 matches, Rooney 42 in 132.

Kane, who took a while to break into the Spurs first team, was lagging someway behind.

“It’s not come easy for me,” he admits. “I’ve probably had to work harder than most to get where I am. I think other fans and other professionals appreciate that. “I always dreamed of playing for England,” he reveals. “I’ve played football since I was about four or five years old, and even back then it was something I imagined doing. It’s always been something that’s motivated me – but I wasn’t always there. When I was about 15 or 16, I wasn’t in the England setup. I got in at around 17 or 18 years old, but even then I was in and out of the squads. My career was pretty up-and-down at that stage. I was going out on loan further down the leagues just to play some football.”

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practise for match situations. I think that’s why you’ve seen me score every different type of goal this season – inside the box, outside the box, headers, left foot, right foot – because I’ve worked hard to make that happen. There’s still room for me to improve and my mindset is to keep trying to do that. There are always more goals you can score and more wins the team can get. The moment you think you’ve reached the top, somebody else will come along and overtake you. I always want to try and be better.” It’s obviously working. Kane has firmly established himself as one of the most dependable goal machines in world football. His ability, combined with his hunger, is good THE MOMENT YOU THINK news for England fans this summer. As is the fact that four of the Premier League’s top seven goalscorers this season are eligible to pull on an YOU’VE REACHED THE England shirt this summer. “If we can all take our Premier League form into the Euros, we TOP, SOMEBODY ELSE should score plenty of goals,” he says. “We’ve got some great players and I’m sure WILL COME ALONG AND any team we play won’t be expecting an easy time. Hopefully we can score a lot OVERTAKE YOU of goals and hopefully I’ll get a few myself. Obviously, the focus is on the team, but as a striker you always have your eye on winning the Golden Boot. If I’m feeling 100 per cent fresh and ready, I’m confident I can score goals against anyone. “I wouldn’t say I expect to score every time I go on the pitch, but I’m disappointed if I don’t,” he admits. What helped Kane catch up to his heroes was his relentless work “There’ll always be games where you don’t score, and the key ethic. “I first saw Harry play in about 2005, early in my time in is how you respond to that the following week. That’s been my development role at Tottenham,” says Chris Ramsay, former something I’ve done well this season; if I’ve gone two or three Brighton, Swindon, and Southend defender, now Technical games without scoring, I’ve been able to eventually get a goal Director at QPR. “While he always had ability, he wasn’t one of and then get another little run going.” the exceptional or standout players of his age group. But what Those “little runs” mean he is 100 goals shy of Alan Shearer’s was always evident about Harry was how hard a worker he was, all-time Premier League total of 260, with many tipping Kane as on and off the pitch. He was obsessive about the game, and that the man to beat that tally. With 33 England goals to his name, he dedication can help to get you to a certain level.” also has the potential to usurp Wayne Rooney (53 goals) as the

Kane has worked harder than most to get to where he is nation’s greatest ever goalscorer. today, but he shows no signs of taking his foot off the gas. More importantly, if Kane can get one of his goalscoring runs

“I’m always looking for new ways to improve,” he says. going at just the right time this summer, he could be the man “I look to guys like Cristiano Ronaldo. To see him, at his age, to help end England’s – calculators at the ready – 55 years of doing what he’s doing, the goals he’s scoring, the records he’s hurt. “It would bring the nation a lot of joy,” he says. “It would breaking – that’s what I want to achieve. Look at the condition be incredible. I have a great connection with Spurs fans, but he keeps himself in – he’s a role model. I’ve worked hard on to have it with the whole country would be a special feeling. I things like nutrition and recovery, to make sure I’m doing the still feel like we’ve got unfinished business. The World Cup was best possible things between games so I’m as fresh as possible incredible, but we want more. We want to go to the next stage, for the next one. and with the Euros this summer and a World Cup the year after

“I stay behind after training to work on my finishing and that, there’s plenty of opportunities to do something special.”