For about 75 minutes on Tuesday, England looked like a team that forgot how to play soccer. Down 1-0 to DR Congo in a knockout match at the World Cup, Thomas Tuchel’s side had generated almost nothing. The passing was sloppy. The movement was static. The Lepoards, massive underdogs, were 15 minutes away from one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.
Then Harry Kane happened.
The Bayern Munich striker equalized in the 75th minute, tapping in a cross from Declan Rice after Tuchel made a desperate tactical switch — moving Rice to right back. That tweak paid off almost immediately. Kane’s goal tied the score and pulled him even with Pele’s career World Cup total of 12 goals. But he wasn’t done.
Ten minutes later, Kane collected the ball outside the box and absolutely ripped one. The shot was a rocket, no dip, no curl, just pure power past the DR Congo keeper and into the top corner. England 2, DR Congo 1. Game over.
That goal pushed Kane past Pele on the all-time World Cup scoring list, which is the kind of sentence that sounds like a typo until you check the numbers. The Brazilian legend never got past 12. Kane is now at 13 and counting, with at least one more match to play.
England moves on, but the road doesn’t get any kinder. They’re headed to Mexico City to face El Tri at Estadio Azteca in the Round of 16. That stadium sits at roughly 7,200 feet above sea level. For context, that’s about 2,000 feet higher than Mile High Stadium in Denver. And Mexico’s fans are going to be loud, drunk, and relentless — especially after what they did to Ecuador on Tuesday night.
Tuchel’s team looked sluggish for most of the match, which is a problem that won’t fix itself before Saturday. But Kane is the kind of player who makes you forget about the other 10 guys. He dragged England through this one. He might have to do it again.
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