Gareth Southgate hailed Harry Kane as an incredible example to England’s younger players as his captain overtook Geoff Hurst and Stan Mortensen in the country’s all‑time goalscoring list with a hat‑trick against Bulgaria.
The Tottenham striker broke Bulgaria’s resistance and then converted two second-half penalties at Wembley as England maintained their 100% start to qualifying for Euro 2020. Raheem Sterling was also on the scoresheet to make it 14 goals in three qualifiers so far. Kane now has 25 goals in 40 appearances for England, with his hat-trick the 13th of his career for club and country.
“We stood and watched him take penalties for about 20 minutes yesterday,” the England manager said. “When you watch the process he goes through, he gives himself every chance of succeeding by that deliberate practice. For a youngster to be able to study him and see his professionalism and the way he works at his game, he’s an incredible example. If you can be confident on the bench when a penalty is given, we’re as confident as we possibly could be.”
Southgate said Kane’s professionalism set a standard for all England players to follow and not only young players such as Mason Mount, who was handed his debut as a substitute. The manager added: “I can only talk glowingly about that mentality to want to be a top player. Selfish isn’t the right word because he’s actually a very unselfish player. But, when he gets his moment, he has an outstanding mindset and, technically, he’s a top finisher.
“But I go back to the fact that’s hours and hours of practice and if you talk to some of the other forwards in the squad, they would talk to you about how big an impression that has had on them.”
Kane was understandably proud to have surpassed Hurst’s record but conceded his international career will be judged by matching the World Cup winner for silverware. The England captain said: “Of course it’s great to get goals and individual records but the most important thing is winning team trophies and England haven’t done that for a long time. That’s my goal as captain and I know all the boys want to win tournaments, but we’ve sat here and spoke about it for the last 10, 15, 20 years and it hasn’t happened.
“We had a little taste of success in the World Cup, obviously didn’t get to where we wanted to go, but we have to use that as motivation to go all the way at the Euros.”
