World Cup 2026: Why Harry Kane is different at this World Cup – Alan Shearer

Why Harry Kane is different at this World Cup. It took Harry Kane four games and 269 minutes to even manage a shot on target at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

He looked tired early in that tournament and I felt he needed a rest after England’s first two matches.

Things could not be more different this time – he will be on top of the world after scoring twice in the 4-2 win against Croatia.

As a striker, the one thing you desperately want to do at any major tournament is get off to a good start.

I was lucky enough to do that myself for England when we beat Tunisia in our first game at the 1998 World Cup.

Honestly, it was a massive relief – not only for the team to get the win, but to get on the scoresheet myself, as captain and our main goalscorer, when everyone was looking at me to deliver.

For all the same reasons, I know Kane will be feeling exactly the same way after the way he played on Wednesday.

He had to sit all week with the rest of the England squad and watch all the other games, seeing superstars like France’s Kylian Mbappe, Norway’s Erling Haaland and Argentina’s Lionel Messi get up and running, not just with one goal but by scoring at least two.

Kane would have been absolutely desperate to join the party and get off the mark in his first game too, so to do that after only 12 minutes and go on to get another one as well, is huge for him – and for England.

When Kane finally got a shot on target in Qatar, in the last 16 against Senegal, he scored.

This time he has got that feel-good factor from the very start, and we’ve already seen what he does when that happens – at Russia in 2018, Kane scored five goals in England’s first two games to send him on his way to the Golden Boot and help us reach the semi-finals.

With arguably our toughest game in Group L out of the way and Ghana and Panama next, his eyes must be lighting up.