The witch doctor’s spell certainly seemed to have been lifted from England star Harry Kane on Saturday evening at MetLife Stadium as he scored the Three Lions’ second goal against Panama in a 2-0 win and took his place as the national team’s all-time leading scorer at the World Cup.
Kane scored his 11th goal in the World Cup in the 67th minute Saturday after he impressively headed a ball sent into the box by Jude Bellingham.
The Bayern Munich striker surpassed Gary Lineker, who previously held the record with 10 goals that he scored between the 1986 and 1990 World Cups.
“It is a proud one for sure,” Kane said to the BBC after the match. “I spoke before the tournament about the World Cup being the biggest competition we play as professional footballers, so to get to 11 goals is a proud feeling.”
Kane already has been off to a fast start during this year’s tournament, scoring twice against Croatia during the first match of the World Cup and then again Saturday.
There was so much concern about Kane’s scoring prowess that a Ghanaian witch doctor said he would put a spell on the England star to keep him from scoring.
He now sits one goal behind soccer legend Pelé on the list of all-time goal scorers at the World Cup and is tied with another pair of greats, Jürgen Klinsmann and Sandor Kocsis.
“For me, he’s the best England player of all time,” Jude Bellingham, who scored England’s first goal against Panama, said.
“He’s the one who showed up more than anyone, more than any England player. It’s quite easy to play with him, in all honesty. He’s at a level at the minute that’s just incredible. You don’t doubt him at all in terms of whether he’s involved, whether he’s not. You know he’s going to make a difference in the game.”
Kane has 82 international goals in his time suiting up for England in 116 matches, and was the Golden Boot winner during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
He remains in the running for the honor this year behind Lionel Messi’s five goals and Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Ousmane Dembélé and Vinícius Júnior’s four.
“Harry is in an amazing state of mind, physically as well,” England manager Thomas Tuchel said. “He is hungry to go all the way in this World Cup, and he’s not satisfied.”
