LONDON — Harry Kane will equal Peter Shilton's England record of 125 caps if he features in the Uefa Nations League meeting with the Czech Republic at Wembley, strengthening his case as England's greatest international. The 33-year-old captain is already his country's record scorer with 89 goals in 124 appearances and arrives at Wembley after his double in Saturday's 7-0 win in Croatia.
Kane's international career began 79 seconds into his debut after replacing Wayne Rooney in the 4-0 win against Lithuania at Wembley in March 2015, and he has been England's mainstay ever since. He remains irreplaceable and is England's top scorer in major tournaments with 21 goals in 36 appearances across six showpieces, ahead of Gary Lineker's 10 goals in 18 appearances. He now stands 36 goals clear of second-placed Rooney, who scored 53 goals in 120 games, and last season the Ballon d'Or contender scored a remarkable 73 goals in 65 games for England and his club Bayern Munich, including 11 goals in 12 England games in this calendar year.
Former England midfielder Danny Murphy said Kane's status is beyond question. "Bobby Moore will always be in people's conversation. Sir Bobby Charlton also, because of what they did and the memories they created," Murphy said. "As you move forward, for me as a kid Gazza [Paul Gascoigne] burst on the scene and became a hero, especially as a creative midfield player myself. I think Rooney was arguably the most all-round footballer we have ever had, the most talented I've seen – but no-one can argue with Harry Kane's quality, numbers and longevity. It is the record of an England great." He added: "There is one thing there is no debate about. Harry Kane is England's greatest goal scorer. Is he England's greatest player? This is all about opinions and eras, but his record and longevity alone informs you that he is an England great. He is in that elite group."
Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson told BBC Sport the scale of Kane's greatness may only be fully appreciated in years to come. "Harry Kane is an England great. There is no argument. He will always be part of that conversation now," Robinson said. "I think we are guilty in the modern era of underestimating what we've got in front of us. We are quite happy to look through rose-tinted spectacles at what we had in the past. We will talk about Bobby Moore and Sir Bobby Charlton, but football now is a completely different game. The life of a footballer is completely different and it's almost like they are playing a different game. What Bobby Moore and Sir Bobby Charlton achieved, nobody in an England shirt has done since." The historical benchmarks remain Moore, the elegant, unflappable defender who at 25 captained England to the 1966 World Cup triumph over West Germany 4-2 at Wembley after winning the FA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup with West Ham United during his 108 caps between May 1962 and November 1973, and Sir Bobby Charlton, who survived the Munich Air Disaster with Manchester United in 1958 to become arguably England's most famous footballer, winning the World Cup and then captaining Manchester United to become the first English team to win the European Cup with a 4-1 win over Benfica at Wembley, scoring twice. Charlton remains third on England's scoring list with 49 goals in 106 games, while Sir Geoff Hurst retains a special place for his hat-trick in the 1966 final.
Kane's numbers underline that elite company. He has scored five hat-tricks in an England career which includes 110 starts with a 66% win rate, and has scored in six consecutive England away games, with only Sir Tom Finney having a longer run of seven between September 1946 and May 1948. His double in England's 7-0 humiliation of Croatia extended that sequence. "The biggest compliment you can pay Harry Kane is to ask yourself how long we've been pondering the question 'what will England do if Harry Kane gets injured?'," Robinson added. "There is no-one close to his class in that position. It is taken as read the captain is playing and without the captain, we would be in trouble. I think we'll appreciate him even more in another 10, 15, 20 years when you look back and see what he has achieved." Irrespective of the one blemish noted on his CV – the failure to add to the men's World Cup won in 1966 – Kane is unquestionably England men's most important and influential player of the modern era and a serious contender for the greatest.