Captain Harry Kane celebrated his record 126th England appearance with a decisive second-half penalty as England defeated Croatia 2-1 at Wembley on Thursday also booking their place in the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals.
Surpassing former goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s 37-year-old appearance record, the 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker struck his 92nd international goal in the 64th minute sending the ball straight down the middle past diving goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic just after Petar Sucic had cancelled out Morgan Rogers’ 24th-minute opener which Kane also assisted.
"We got the job done and it was important because it was a special occasion for Harry and he scored the winner so a perfect evening" said England manager Thomas Tuchel.
Before kick-off in front of 80,400 fans, Kane walked onto the pitch with his four children, displayed the Ballon d'Or trophy he won last month and received commemorative gifts from Shilton, the Prince of Wales and Croatia captain Luka Modric.
With 92 goals 39 clear of second-placed Wayne Rooney Kane now eyes becoming just the fourth male footballer to reach 100 international goals, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Ali Daei.
England will travel to Madrid on Sunday to face World Cup champions Spain for top spot in Group A3. Both teams have already qualified for the last eight though England must win by at least two goals to overtake Spain who extended their unbeaten run to 43 matches with a 2-0 win over the 10-man Czech Republic via goals from Alex Baena and Marc Pubill.
Elsewhere in the Nations League on Thursday, Italy recorded their first home victory over France since 1962 with a 3-1 comeback at San Siro to move top of Group A1. After an early error by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma allowed Michael Olise to put France ahead, 21-year-old striker Pio Esposito equalised before halftime. Although Pio’s older brother, Sebastiano Esposito missed a second-half penalty, Davide Frattesi fired Italy in front before Pio converted a late spot-kick to seal the win.
In another fixture Belgium came from behind to beat Turkey 2-1 with Kevin De Bruyne and Charles De Ketelaere cancelling out Arda Guler’s opener.
