That's how you score a penalty, boss! Harry Kane shows England manager Gareth Southgate how it's done from the spot in emphatic win over Panama

Penalties, as Gareth Southgate said on Sunday night from his own bitter experience, are not easy.

But Harry Kane took two in his stride in this contest, ignoring the distractions of those dastardly opponents from Panama to score with breathtaking accuracy. Not just in the same place but with the same venom and pace, power and accuracy. One imagines that if Roy Race took a penalty at a World Cup for England, that’s how he would do it. Whoosh, take that, top corner! Quite brilliant.

Kane is still waiting for a decent chance in open play at this tournament but when an opportunity to score has presented itself, the England captain has proved absolutely deadly. Indeed even when he doesn’t mean it, such was the good fortune that enabled him to join Sir Geoff Hurst and Gary Lineker in scoring a hat-trick for England at a World Cup.

Harry Kane showed his composure from the spot by scoring two penalties against Panama

Harry Kane showed his composure from the spot by scoring two penalties against Panama

Kane has taken his prolific club form with Tottenham onto the international stage for England

Kane has taken his prolific club form with Tottenham onto the international stage for England

He now sits ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku in pursuit of the golden boot but there are records in his sights too. Only Lineker has scored more goals for England at the World Cup - he boasts 10 - but after just 154 minutes of football on the grandest stage of all another five appear to be well within his reach.


No wonder Southgate said he would not swap him for any other centre-forward on the planet when he reflected on the contribution Kane has so far made in Russia.

Kane delivers, not least for this England manager. It is now 13 goals in nine games for Southgate, and 11 in seven as the captain. To suggest the 24-year-old thrives on leadership would be something of an understatement.

Southgate hooked him as soon as he could in the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. Half-time would have been tempting were it not for the fact that Kane would have almost certainly demanded he be allowed to score more goals when Panama were so defensively inept.

 The 24-year-old was unfazed as he twice stepped up to take penalties against Panama

 The 24-year-old was unfazed as he twice stepped up to take penalties against Panama

Kane is now the leading scorer at the World Cup having found the net five times so far

Kane is now the leading scorer at the World Cup having found the net five times so far

But no sooner had that effort from Ruben Loftus-Cheek taken a diversion off Kane’s heel and Southgate had him off, unharmed and out of danger in preparation for his next appearance.

When exactly that is remains to be seen, but a game against Belgium when qualification for the last 16 has already been secured would certainly seem like a good time to rest him.

Kane being Kane, he will probably want to play. After all he has made no secret of wanting to emulate Lineker in winning the golden boot.

But Southgate has to be sensible here and so does his captain when he is going to be so important for England once the serious business of the knock-out stages arrives.

On Sunday night Southgate hinted strongly of a widespread changes for the third and final group game, suggesting it was important that players so far unused in the tournament get a game. Not just for squad morale but because they might yet be needed as the tournament progresses, making game time important.

So far 17 of England 23 players have been used, so one can presume there are at least four others - ignoring the reserve goalkeepers - that will come into the side for the clash in Kaliningrad.

Kane's manager Gareth Southgate was devastated after missing a penalty at Euro 96

Kane's manager Gareth Southgate was devastated after missing a penalty at Euro 96

Southgate missed his penalty against Germany in the semi-finals of the tournament

Southgate missed his penalty against Germany in the semi-finals of the tournament

‘We have some decisions to make because the harmony of the group is important to me,’ said Southgate. ‘There are others who we didn’t get into the game. Some have been a couple of weeks without a match, and we’re going to need more people as we get further into the tournament.’

So if it looks like being a second string side Southgate sends out against Belgium, why risk the captain and principal goalscorer? Why, when this encounter was played in such punishing heat, not give the Tottenham striker more time to recover?

The game has the potential for being a little unusual anyway, given the apparent desire among the Belgian ranks to finish second in the group.

If members of the Belgian media are well-informed, and they generally seem to be, Roberto Martinez has a couple of reasons for wanting to remain in their current position of second in Group G. Firstly, they would prefer to avoid a probable quarter-final against Brazil or possibly Germany. But they would also prefer to play in Moscow when that is where they are based, and instead avoid a trip to Rostov.

Of course, there is a little to choose between the two teams right now. Just one yellow card given that they are equal not just in terms of goal difference bot goals scored. But in the Belgium camp the talk is said to be doing whatever it takes, within the rules, to avoid ending up above England. ‘If we need another booking we always have Fellaini,’ one reporter amusingly remarked.

Kane completed his hat-trick after he got a touch on Ruben Loftus-Cheek's effort

Kane completed his hat-trick after he got a touch on Ruben Loftus-Cheek's effort

MOST INTERNATIONAL GOALS IN CURRENT ENGLAND SQUAD 

Harry Kane - 18 goals

Danny Welbeck - 16 goals

Ashley Young, Jamie Vardy - 7 goals

Gary Cahill - Five goals 

Advertisement

So, again, spare Kane the potential charade and save him for the kind of knock-out games in which England generally struggle, and give someone else the chance to excel and stake a claim for a place in the side. It felt significant that Marcus Rashford was not used from the bench on Sunday, suggesting he was being spared with Belgium in mind.

England, you assume, will not play to draw or lose. ‘I’ve heard talk of it being better finishing second, but how do you work all that out really?’ he asked, and he has a point when, remember, England thought they were lucky to end up playing Iceland at the last major tournament.

If the game did end up a draw and England received the extra booking they now need to tie with Belgium in the fair play stakes too, it would actually then go to a drawing of lots.

According to article 32 of FIFA’s regulations, ‘a draw is needed’. ‘It would take place shortly after the respective matches in the Stadium Media Centre of one of the FIFA World Cup stadiums located in Moscow,’ it states on the FIFA website. ‘The draw would be open to accredited media and streamed live.’ It might be the one occasion when FIFA’s website also has more viewers than the Royal Wedding.

But at least Kane is not part of that particular audience this time. When England last only six days at the last World Cup, Kane was watching on television. In six days here he has scored five goals, propelling England into the next round with a game to spare. In 2018 he is the star of the show.