LONDON: Harry Kane marked his 100th game for England with two goals and celebrations with his family in a 2-0 win over Finland in the UEFA Nations League on Tuesday.
Presented with a golden cap before kickoff and playing in gold boots at Wembley Stadium, the England captain was swarmed by his teammates after scoring his first goal in true Kane style. He beat a Finnish defender before unleashing a powerful shot which was still rising as it clipped the underside of the crossbar.
The Bayern Munich star’s second goal came with an assist from one of England’s new faces as Noni Madueke played the pass for Kane to hit a shot that took a slight deflection — not that it mattered to the crowd which gave Kane a standing ovation when he was substituted off soon after.
“It was a big night for me, obviously really proud to reach 100 caps. I want to score goals, I want to help the team,” Kane told broadcaster ITV.
It was the second straight 2-0 win for interim England manager Lee Carsley, who took over on a temporary basis after Gareth Southgate stepped down following England’s loss to Spain in the Euro 2024 final.
Carsley could yet remain in the position for a while longer if the search for Southgate’s permanent successor extends beyond the next international break in October.
England are playing in the second tier of the Nations League and are level on six points at the top of their group with Greece, who beat Ireland 2-0.
Ake injured in Netherlands draw
Manchester City defender Nathan Ake went off with an apparent muscle injury shortly before halftime while playing for the Netherlands in a 2-2 draw with Germany. That could be a blow for City ahead of games against Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday and Inter Milan and Arsenal next week.
Denzel Dumfries’ goal helped salvage a draw for the Netherlands, who had started well when Tijjani Reijnders’ goal gave the Dutch the lead after just one-and-a-half minutes in Amsterdam after being left in plenty of space by the German defense.
However, Germany had a 2-1 lead at halftime thanks to goals from Deniz Undav and Joshua Kimmich, before Dumfries leveled in the 50th.
Germany and the Netherlands were familiar foes who have played seven times since 2018, and most recently in March.
For the Netherlands, it was the first game since coach Ronald Koeman ruled forward Steven Bergwijn out of his plans following the forward’s move to the Saudi Arabian league. Koeman suggested Bergwijn, who was on the team at Euro 2024, lacked ambition because of the move.
Germany were without Niclas Füllkrug after the West Ham striker struggled with an Achilles tendon problem and was replaced in the lineup by Stuttgart’s Undav.
In the same group, Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina drew 0-0 in the other top-tier game.
Also Tuesday, Pavel Sulc scored twice to lift the Czech Republic to a 3-2 win over Ukraine, and Georgia beat Albania 1-0.
