Harry Kane is one goal away from standing alone as England 's greatest World Cup goalscorer.
The Bayern Munich captain reached double figures with a first-half brace against Croatia , drawing level with Gary Lineker on ten goals at the tournament.
Kane is coming off the best season of his career, having won the European Golden Boot in Germany . One more goal in the United States would make him England's outright leading scorer at World Cups, a mark Lineker has held alone for 36 years.
England have two group games still to come, against Ghana and Panama . Lineker, watching the record fall, was happy to talk about it.
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Lineker scored his 10 across two tournaments, six at Mexico 1986 and four at Italia 1990. Half of Kane's came from the penalty spot, including a record fifth against Croatia — and the former striker had a little fun with that detail.
Speaking during a guest appearance on ITV , Lineker said: "I'm really pleased for him. He's had an extra tournament, mind you, and there are a lot of penalties but, you know what, we'll give him that."
He then followed the tongue-in-cheek comment with: "No, look. I mean this. I think he is our best-ever No 9."
Beating it now looks a matter of time. Kane has 10 goals in 12 World Cup appearances.
He'll take top spot barring a complete capitulation from here on out, and if such a thing were to happen, it's hard to see England progressing to the final on July 19th.
