Harry Kane equals Gary Lineker’s World Cup record as England cruise past Croatia

GOOD START: England's Harry Kane celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game.

England 4 Croatia 2

Harry Kane equalled Gary Lineker’s record of 10 World Cup goals for England after his first-half double in the 4-2 win opening win against Croatia.

The Bayern Munich striker came into the tournament on the back of a record-breaking season in Germany and did not take long to make a statement in North America in the Group L opener in Dallas.

He opened the scoring with a retaken penalty in the 12th minute when his original effort had been saved by Dominik Livakovic after the Croatia goalkeeper had come off his line.

After Croatia then equalised through Martin Baturina, Kane doubled his tally when he powered a header into the bottom corner from Declan Rice’s corner.

After Croatia drew level for a second time through Petar Musa on the stroke of half-time, second-half goals from Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford sealed victory.

Kane won the Golden Boot in 2018 in Russia when he scored six goals during England’s run to the semi-final, including a hat-trick against Panama.

He then bagged another two during the Qatar edition but missed a penalty against France in the quarter-final defeat.

Lineker scored his 10 goals in two tournaments, winning the Golden Boot with six in Mexico 86 before adding four at Italia 90.

But with Kane on the board so early, he will be hoping to become the first player to win two Golden Boots and matched rivals Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, who both scored braces in their opening matches.

He will be a good bet to go past Lineker and break another record, having had opportunities to score a hat-trick in the second half.

“Gary was an incredible striker for England, and to achieve 10 World Cup goals is impressive,” he told the Press Association before the tournament.

“Personal milestones are, of course, a motivator. As a striker, I always want to score every time I step onto the pitch, and those milestones are always nice things to achieve.

“But the ultimate motivation is playing with the boys and winning matches. If I score those goals to pass Gary’s record, it means I’m helping the team win, and that’s the perfect scenario.”