Thursday 5 October 2017 23:25, UK
Tottenham's Harry Kane was given the chance to showcase his leadership skills in England's crunch qualifier with Slovenia on Thhursday night and he delivered an injury-time winner to send his country to the World Cup.
He had scored three goals in his previous two caps wearing the England armband, and continued his stunning scoring streak at Wembley.
Since returning from a seven-week injury lay-off to score in the North London derby in November 2016, Kane has averaged more than a goal-per-game. His 13 goals in the month of September equalled the record tallies for a single month of both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
He has also bagged himself six hat-tricks in 2017, more than Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann - the top three contenders for the 2016 Ballon d'Or - combined.
Even at Wembley, where Tottenham have received widespread criticism for their inability to replicate last season's form from White Hart Lane, Kane has averaged a goal every other game over the last year for club and country combined.
His club form is showing signs of translating to the international stage too, with six goals in his last five caps after a run of six England appearances without a goal.
The superlatives his form merits are starting to hold no boundaries, regardless of the shirt he is wearing and irrespective of the venue. Until Thursday, in the previous 10 competitive games when he has found the back of the net, he has gone on to score two, three or four goals.
Since the start of the 2014/15 season, Kane has faced 36 clubs or countries on more than one occasion. He has only failed to score against five of them - Fiorentina, Gent, Partizan Belgrade, Sheffield Utd and Slovakia. He has proven his pedigree for the big games, only Manchester United can boast of keeping him regularly at bay.
Kane is eager to impress Gareth Southgate enough to retain the captaincy in Russia next summer.
Regardless of his status going forward with the armband, Kane will be expected to let his actions in front of goal do the talking as he leads the line for both Tottenham and England. The expectations of both are firmly on his shoulders.
