A skipper's strike against the Scots

When Harry was given his first taste of captaining the England national team, he led by example and delivered for his country, just when they needed it most.

Set to play under Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate for the first time in June, 2017, having previously been unavailable through injury, the striker was handed the captain's armband for the game as Southgate assessed his on-field leadership options in the build up to the 2018 World Cup.

And how better to show off your credentials for the role than scoring a vital injury-time equaliser to save face against the 'Auld enemy'?

Travelling to Scotland as their World Cup qualification campaign moved onto matchday six, England were bidding to continue their unbeaten run over their oldest of rivals while the Scots were aiming to earn their first win over those south of the border for the first time in almost two decades.

In what was a naturally tense affair, it took 70 minutes for the deadlock to be broken with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain finding the target for the visitors, but England were soon up against it as two stunning free-kicks from Leigh Griffiths in the final three minutes put Scotland on course for an historic victory.

Harry, however, had other ideas as, in the third minute of added time he showed such composure to steer home Raheem Sterling's diagonal ball on the volley and keep Southgate's side's pride intact.

The striker's dream

After the perfect start to his first FIFA World Cup campaign, Harry then found another gear in England's next outing as he completed perhaps the what could be termed the striker's dream at the global tournament.

Appearing at a World Cup is, without doubt, the pinnacle of a footballer's career. To then score at one is perhaps the icing on the cake. But, to score a hat-trick at one is something few footballers ever achieve.

Yet, Harry being Harry, he scored one in just his second-ever appearance at the tournament.

Coming in England's biggest ever win at a World Cup, the Three Lions' 6-1 win over Panama in Nizhny Novgorod, the skipper opened his account with our second of the match, firing home from the penalty spot after John Stones kicked-off the rout.

Jesse Lingard then added a third before Stones got his second to make it 4-0, and there was still time left in the first half to add another as our number 10 was bundled to the floor in the box, earning him a further opportunity from the spot.

Once more he emphatically dispatched it, leathering it into almost the exact same spot that he had hammered in his first.

His third and England's sixth then came after the break and it could be said that it didn't require quite as much skill to score as his first two efforts had.

Sauntering into a bit of space in the box as Ruben Loftus-Cheek lined up a strike from the edge of the area, Harry was struck on the heel by the Chelsea midfielder's skewed effort. The ball then sprung up off H's achilles and looped into the opposite corner of the net. They all count...

No concerns required

Heading into the rescheduled 2020 Euros in the summer of 2021, Harry Kane had just enjoyed one of his greatest ever campaigns.

Despite an up and down season for the Club, Harry came out of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign with two individual accolades - the competition's Golden Boot and Playmaker award. Thanks to 23 goals and 14 assists across the term, Harry became the first ever player to lift both prizes.

That campaign, therefore, had him in sublime form ahead of what was his third major international championship as multiple European nations hosted the Euros for the first time.

However, despite his fine form in lilywhite, when England had scored just twice come the end of the group stage - they topped their group unbeaten - questions were raised on Harry's position in the team.

One thing we know is though, these are the moments, the challenges, that Harry savours, relishes. Much of his career has seen people question his ability but, when they do, he has always proved the, wrong. And that is exactly what he did come the Round of 16 tie with Germany.

A nation that have regularly had the beating of England in international tournaments, this match was set to be a real test for Gareth Southgate's side, but, in truth, they dominated this clash and, when Raheem Sterling finally put them ahead on 75 minutes, the quarter-finals looked set.

However, just moments later, a misplaced pass from Sterling saw Thomas Muller run clean through on goal. He looked certain to score, but then dragged it wide at the last.

England needed security and, just when they needed him most, Harry delivered.

With just four minutes remaining, the Three Lions pressed high to win the ball back from the Germans. Luke Shaw drove through the centre of the pitch, roll in Jack Grealish on the left wing and the attacking outlet in turn centred for Harry, who managed to contort his body and head the ball past Manuel Neuer to kick-start both his and England's tournament.

Making history

That header against Germany had certainly kick-started Harry's tournament as, in the quarter-finals against Ukraine, he went onto bag a brace as England romped home to a 4-0 win in Rome, Italy. Knowing H, he probably will have been disappointed he didn't add another match ball to his collection that night as he was certainly was on for a hat-trick at the Stadio Olimpico.

But, then again, it would probably go without saying that scoring the winner in a major international semi-final to send England through to their first ever European Championship final would go some way to making up for that - and, well, that is just what Harry did.

On one of the biggest nights of his international career to date, H came up with the goods late, late on to book Gareth Southgate's a place in the Euro 2020 finals - but, boy, was it a nervy night?

Taking on Denmark in front of 67,000 spectators at Wembley as COVID-19 restrictions continued to be lifted, England got off to the worst possible start as a Mikel Damsgaard free-kick sailed into the top right-hand corner of the net with just half an hour played in London.

Yet, despite that setback, the spirit in the team shone through and just nine minutes later, England were level thanks to a Simon Kjaer own goal.

With so much emotion riding on the tournament for both teams - don't forget while England were playing in front of their home crowd, Denmark were playing with Christian Eriksen on their minds, our former player who collapsed in the Dane's opening match of the tournament - it was certainly a tense, but also frantic encounter at times. So much so that, with 90 minutes having been played, there was no separating the teams, sending the game to an additional 30 minutes of play.

Ultimately, to separate the sides, it was going to require some brilliance, and that came from Raheem Sterling with 12 minutes of the first period played, skipping through the box before being bundled over by Joakim Maehle.

A penalty was awarded and up stepped Harry to dispatch. Unusually for H, instead of power and height on his penalty, the striker looked to place down low of the goalkeeper's left, something that Kasper Schmeichel somehow read and got down to save. However, the former Leicester 'keeper couldn't clear the danger, allowing the ball to bounce back towards H and he was not going to miss again, lashing the ball in to send Wembley into delirium and England into the final.

Goal No.54

On Thursday night (23 March), Harry then went and made England history as he scored his 54th goal for his country in their 2-1 win over Italy.

Having levelled the Three Lions' goalscoring record in his last outing for his nation at the 2022 World Cup as he hit his 53rd in the quarter-final clash with France - equalling Wayne Rooney's tally - he went and made it his own in Naples.

In what was just his 81st game for England, even from before the game, while you could tell he was there to lead his team to an historic victory at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, it was clear the record was in his sights.

Declan Rice was the man to get England under way, firing in from close range after an effort from Harry was parried by Gianluigi Donnarumma on 13 minutes.

Then it was H's moment. From a similar situation that brought about the opener, our number 10 was once again in space at the back post but, instead of getting a shot on goal, he went to head the ball, only for it to be blocked by the hands of Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

After a VAR review, the referee awarded the penalty and then Harry did what he does best, nestling the ball into the side netting - then came the emotion.

A record that rarely changes hands, Harry is now not only our greatest goalscorer but also his nation's - and there are not many finer personal honours than that.

He has managed to score 54 goals in just 81 games, meaning he has a strike rate on the international stage of 66 per cent. And the forward is not even 30-years-old yet. It is simply staggering. Who knows how much our number 10 could extend that record by...