The man Harry Kane picked out for inspiration at Wembley was on the other bench. Luka Modric, now 41 and at AC Milan, came on as a second-half substitute for Croatia on Thursday night. On the pitch, Kane, Modric’s former Tottenham team-mate, was being made England’s all-time appearance record holder.
England won 2-1 and Kane scored the winner from the spot. It was his 92nd international goal and his 126th cap, one more than Peter Shilton’s record that had stood since 1990, as Sky Sports reported. The 33-year-old was presented with a commemorative shirt by Shilton and Prince William before kick-off, three weeks after becoming the first English Ballon d’Or winner for 25 years.
Modric is the model
Kane said he had drawn on Modric’s longevity as he thinks about his own future.
“He’s an inspiration for a lot of us,” Kane told reporters after the match, in comments carried by ESPN. “What an incredible player, but what a great person as well and someone who’s looked after himself, a great professional and to be playing at 41 now, still at this level is, credit to all of his hard work and his mentality.”
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Watching the Croatia captain still playing at that age pushes him to keep going while his body and his form allow it, Kane said. Whether he is still an England player at 40 is a question for another day, he added, but as long as he can help the national team at the top level, he intends to stay in it.
The Euros come home in 2028
England will co-host Euro 2028 with Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Kane told reporters that lifting the trophy on home soil is his “biggest dream” with England, and said imagining what Wembley and the country would sound like if that happened is part of what drives him now.
Modric and the Croatian squad marked the occasion with a pre-match gift for Kane, which he acknowledged in post-match comments to Sky Sports: “Thank you to Luka and Croatia for their gift.”
The next landmark for Kane is 100 international goals. He is eight away.
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