Harry Kane has led England to a triumphant start at the World Cup 2026, but doubts have emerged as to whether he has the capability to drive them to tournament glory.
Hamann's Concerns Over Kane's Pace
Dietmar Hamann has questioned whether Harry Kane possesses the pace required to guide England to World Cup 2026 glory. The Three Lions captain made a flying start to the tournament on Wednesday after netting twice in their 4-2 triumph over Croatia.
Kane's double also saw him draw level with Gary Lineker's tally of 10 World Cup goals in another career landmark for the Bayern Munich striker. Despite his significance to England across 11 years and six international tournaments, former Liverpool star Hamann confessed there are multiple forwards in the competition he'd prefer over Kane due to their greater speed.
Providing analysis as a pundit for RTE, the ex-Germany international said: "I think there are a few centre-forwards in this tournament I would probably rather have in my team than him because he says in tournament football you can score on the counter attack, but he won't score on the counter attack."
"Because when you play against the best team, sometimes you have to sit back, and then you have to go 50, 60 yards to score a goal. Now, if Madueke takes off, Gordon takes off, Rashford takes off, he won't be able to keep up with them."
Kane is among the most clinical finishers in world football, yet Hamann voiced his doubts that the 32-year-old may not be the player to deliver England their first major trophy since the World Cup in 1966.
He added: "So, I'm sitting on the fence for now, but I have got my doubts about him, whether he is the player who is taking England to the World Cup, because I think you need at some stage in a tournament you need pace, and he simply hasn't got it."
"His finishing is probably the best in the tournament, probably best in the world, left foot, right foot, give him half a chance, he will score. But does he get in these positions against Germany, Brazil, against France? I'm not sure."
Kane's Response and Team Performance
Having been pegged back twice before the break, Kane revealed the rousing half-time team talk from Thomas Tuchel that inspired England to dominate proceedings in the second half and clinch victory.
The striker said: "He told us to take the shackles off, calm down and let's go. He said what's the worst that can happen? Show the world who we can be. We came out in the second half full gas and they couldn't live with it, and that's the level we have to set in every game."
"The way we controlled the game once we went ahead, we never really looked like we were in danger and then scored on the counterattack. We had a spell where we could have scored three or four. Credit to everyone: the first game of the tournament and a great result against a tough side."
Group L leaders England now turn their attention to Tuesday's clash with Ghana, with the Black Stars also having made a positive start to the competition, claiming a 1-0 victory over Panama.
