Nothing to limit yourself to just the attack. In addition to scoring two goals, center forward Harry Kane moved almost all over the field in England’s 3-1 victory over Croatia at the AT&T stadium in Dallas.
With his performance this Wednesday (17), the Bayern Munich player caught up with Gary Lineker in England’s top scorer in World Cups, with ten goals.
After being the top scorer at the World Cup in Russia in 2018, he placed second in this edition of the tournament after his debut, behind only Lionel Messi — who scored three times on Tuesday (16) against Algeria.
Kane scored in the first half, was on the field for the 90 minutes and was also decisive in defense. In stoppage time of the second half, with the score already at 4-2, the striker blocked a shot from Gvardiol in one of the last moves of the match.
Its heat map, which shows which areas of the pitch the player circulated the most, shows a greater concentration in the penalty area, as expected, but also good movement in the defense field, in the midfield region before the midfield.
This is a characteristic of Kane, who returns to get the ball and helps build plays from start to finish. He doesn’t just act as an offensive reference man. Of the total of 21 passes he made during the game, eight were forward, six backward, four to the left and three to the right.
His specialty is attacking, although he only hit the target a few times on his debut. Kane finished seven times, three in the right direction.
The two goals came from set pieces in the initial stage. First with the penalty kick, which had to be repeated after goalkeeper Livakovic left his line early and made the save, and then with the header from Declan Rice’s corner kick.
At 32 years old, Kane is playing in his third World Cup and has now scored 81 goals in 115 matches for the English national team.
The team led by German Thomas Tuchel was ahead twice in the first half, and both times the Croatians sought an equalizer before the break.
“It was two very different times,” Kane said in a post-match interview. “We were disappointed with the goals we conceded, but credit to Tuchel, who at half-time told us that if we lost, we would have to lose our way.”
The English Team captain praised the team’s pace in the second half and celebrated the “excellent result against a difficult team”. He was chosen as the star of the match.
