Harry Kane becomes England's most-capped player with 126th appearance

Harry Kane has become England's most-capped player of all time, making his 126th appearance by starting against Croatia in the Nations League at Wembley on Thursday, Sky Sports reported. The 33-year-old captain moved past the goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who won 125 caps between 1970 and 1990.

The record comes less than three weeks after Kane became the first English winner of the Ballon d’Or for 25 years, according to Sky Sports. Shilton presented him with a commemorative cap on the pitch before kick-off, and the Independent reported that the trophy was due to be paraded around the pitch in front of the home crowd.

Kane's record in numbers

126 caps: the new England record, one more than Shilton's 125. Kane had equalled it on 6 October, when he scored twice in a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic at Wembley.
91 goals: Kane is also England's all-time leading scorer, according to Sky Sports and the Independent.
36 tournament appearances: the most by an Englishman at major tournaments, the Guardian reported. He leads the European Championship standings with 18 and is one short of Jordan Pickford's record 19 at the World Cup.
26 more competitive games: the Guardian calculated that Kane has played 26 more competitive games for England than anyone else, helped in part by the arrival of the Nations League in September 2018.
29 matches missed: since his debut in March 2015, the Guardian said, 12 of them as an unused substitute and 12 of the other 17 were friendlies.
81%: the share of possible England matches Kane has played, according to the Guardian, narrowly behind David Platt's 82%.

What is behind the figures

The Guardian argued that the record looks modest in the wider history of international football. Kane's 126 caps level him with players including Dani Alves, Eden Hazard and Paolo Maldini, none of whom top their own country's list. The paper added that Fara Williams made 172 appearances for the England women's team, and that several other Lionesses also have more caps than Kane.

The Guardian said that does not diminish his achievement, because winning caps for England's men has been hard. It pointed to the 49 years between England's World Cup win and Kane's debut, and noted that going deep in tournaments is one of the best ways to add appearances.

The paper also cautioned against comparing eras. Billy Wright won 105 caps between 1946 and 1959 and played in 97% of England's matches over that span, a rate it said no modern player can hope to match given the greater focus on rest, recovery and rotation. Even so, it said nobody in the Premier League era has featured as regularly as Kane over at least a decade with England.

Sky Sports added that Kane's finishing has improved over time. Across his 25 matches before the record appearance, it said, he had 43 shots on target and scored 23 goals, with shooting accuracy of 55.8 per cent and a conversion rate of 29.9 per cent. All four of its measures were at their highest of any 25-game block since his debut.

Why it matters for England

England manager Thomas Tuchel said Kane was “up there” when asked whether he is the greatest Three Lion, according to the Independent. Tuchel said the occasion combined the Ballon d’Or celebration and the record, but stressed that the match matters because it is a Nations League game rather than a friendly.

The Independent reported that England beat Croatia 7-0 in the reverse fixture and need only a point to reach the Nations League quarter-finals in March.

What happens next

England play their final group game against world champions Spain in Madrid on Sunday evening, the Independent reported. If they win both matches, they could finish top of the group ahead of Spain, the paper said.

Around Prague, based on reporting by The Guardian, The Independent, Sky Sports

Cover photo: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

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