sport news Tottenham star and England captain Harry Kane faces his biggest hope of ending ... trends now
When Alan Shearer was nearing the end of his playing days, the Guardian looked back at his career and described it as a ‘wreckage’.
The insinuation was that one of the greatest goalscorers of our times had given so much but was to end with so little, just one Premier League medal from his years at Blackburn.
It can be a hard dilemma to juggle, one that sets the love and sense of belonging that players feel at a club — in Shearer’s case Newcastle — against the cold hard currency of silverware.
The 2022 World Cup is a huge opportunity for Harry Kane to end his quest for silverware
Alan Shearer bagged just one Premier League medal during his career with Blackburn Rovers
Some, like Ryan Giggs and Frank Lampard, managed to tick both boxes but they are the lucky ones. Some must keep moving to satisfy the hunger.
Others, like Shearer, do not and subsequently retire in the knowledge that at least one side of the ledger will always be empty.
And so to Harry Kane. The 29-year-old Tottenham and England striker flew to Qatar yesterday as one of football’s true elite performers but did so in an almost unique position of never having won a single thing.
The 29-year-old striker flew to Qatar in a unique position of never having won a single trophy
Unlike Neymar of Brazil (six league titles), Lionel Messi of Argentina (11), Robert Lewandowski of Poland (10), Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (seven) and Karim Benzema of France (eight), Kane has no silverware to show for a career that will soon be in its autumn years.
Watching him play for Tottenham recently in a game they lost 2-1 at home to Liverpool was to be reminded of the absurdity of that, and if he views the next four weeks as an opportunity to achieve something special not only for his country but also for himself, it would be totally understandable.
Kane was exceptional that day against Liverpool, as he so often is. The goal he scored to spark a Tottenham comeback came from a chance that probably had the Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson at an advantage, such was the angle.
Kane had about a single square foot of netting to aim for inside the far post but found it with a sweep of his right foot.
The rest of his play was almost perfect, too. Kane is a beautiful passer of the ball, he can cross the ball, is a terrific header
