Declaring that Cristiano Ronaldo is his idol, Harry Kane is determined to follow in his favorite star’s footsteps, as his double in his 100th match for England on the morning of September 11 is proof.
Before the match between England and Finland in Group 2, Group B of the Nations League, Harry Kane was awarded the golden cap by the FA, an honor only given to players who have made their 100th appearance for their national team. Former teammates Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard, also members of the “100 Club”, were present alongside Harry Kane at this important event along with Harry Kane’s wife and children, in front of tens of thousands of Three Lions fans .
Harry Kane was honored with his 100th England cap before the match.
England needed a win against Finland to challenge Greece for the top spot in the group and that was why interim manager Lee Carsley fielded a very strong line-up. In addition to Erzi Konsa replacing Harry Maguire in defence, manager Lee Carsley also made an experimental change when former Manchester United player Angel Gomes was used to replace Kobbie Mainoo in midfield.
Jack Grealish plays aggressively in the home team’s attack
The 24-year-old Lille star was given 8 points in this match, second only to Harry Kane, who scored both goals for England . Angel Gomes played creatively, even almost opening the scoring with a half-shot pass in the 21st minute, but luckily Finnish goalkeeper Hradecky was able to block it. The visitors responded immediately after with Keskinen’s shot going wide.
Angel Gomes scores in his first start for England
In the 23rd minute, Bukayo Saka played solo on the right wing and then passed the ball like a set piece for Harry Kane to head the ball into the Finnish net. However, the referee determined that the England striker was offside and VAR also recognized this decision as correct.
Bukayo Saka is dynamic on the right flank of the Three Lions.
The second half of the first half was the time when the match became more exciting with both sides attacking. Finland continued to play an open game in the first minutes of the second half before being defeated in the 57th minute. Harry Kane threw himself to finish in a “bicycle kick” style, the ball found the position of goalkeeper Hradecky but immediately after that, Alexander-Arnold continued to pass the ball to Kane and the England captain fired a very strong shot from outside the penalty area, the ball hit the top corner and bounced off the bottom edge of the crossbar.
Harry Kane scores twice in 100th cap
In the 76th minute, Alexander-Arnold sent a through pass to Noni Madueke who ran down and Harry Kane received the cross from the young Chelsea player and immediately fired a shot into the far corner, sealing a 2-0 victory.
England win both opening matches of Nations League
The Three Lions have now won both of their first two games under interim coach Lee Carsley, while Harry Kane became the 10th England player to reach 100 appearances and continued to dominate the England scoring charts with 68 goals.
The Netherlands and Germany drew 2-2 in a fiery match at the Johan Cruijff Stadium in Amsterdam. Centre-back Matthijs de Ligt continued to be “in trouble” when he was the cause of Deniz Undav’s equalizer after Indonesian-born player Tijjani Reijnders opened the scoring for the Netherlands in the 3rd minute.
Denzel Dumfries scored the equalizer to make it 2-2 in the end
Joshua Kimmich put the visiting team Germany ahead in first-half stoppage time but Denzel Dumfries equalized 2-2 for the Netherlands in the second half. In Group 3 , Group A , Germany and the Netherlands both have 4 points after two matches but Germany is temporarily ranked higher thanks to a better goal difference.
