Harry Kane is in line to move level with Peter Shilton as England’s most-capped player over the next fortnight, but is wondering why the record of 125 appearances for the national side is not higher.
Kane is currently four short of Shilton’s haul but a quartet of Nations League fixtures against Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic (two) could allow him to equal the celebrated goalkeeper’s record.
“Growing up, the dream was just to play for England and being most capped was never even in my mind at that stage,” said Kane, the Three Lions’ all-time top goalscorer.
“The journey has been incredible to this stage, and we have achieved so much as a group and personally achieved so much and been in finals, taking the England team to a level that it hasn’t been for a long, long time.
“So, to be four away from the all-time is just incredible and hopefully I am able to play the four games and then be back in November and be able to break it.”
Kane is just one of 10 men to have reached a century of caps for England.
By contrast, Cristiano Ronaldo has represented Portugal a world-leading 233 times, with contemporaries Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Luka Modric (Croatia) also having passed 200 caps for their respective countries.
Kane’s former Tottenham team-mates Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen and Ivan Perisic are among a variety of modern-day players to have featured in over 150 internationals.
“It makes you wonder why (not) as well with England,” added Kane. “Is it a cultural thing? Is it a mentality thing? Is it maybe the pressure from the outside?
“Why have some of our great England players not reached that 160, 170, 180 (caps) like some of the other nations?
“From my point of view, it will be an honour but ultimately there is still a long way to go and still hopefully a lot more caps I can achieve.”
Despite his prolific record of 85 international goals, a major tournament victory is the one thing missing from Kane’s England career.
A home Euros in two years’ time could present his final opportunity and he is targeting Saturday’s clash against world champions Spain at Wembley as a chance to lay down a marker.
“Look, we’re playing the reigning European champions, the reigning world champions, so it doesn’t get any tougher in terms of who we’re going to face,” he added.
“But ultimately if we want to be Nations League champions, European champions in a couple years, we’re going to have to beat teams like Spain and Croatia and the bigger nations. It’s good for us to test ourselves, test the group.”
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