Harry Kane has officially entered the phase of his career where a singalong to Oasis in a Croatian pub ranks among his most cherished memories in an England shirt. This is not hyperbole. This is where we are.
After England’s win over Croatia on Wednesday, Kane stood shoulder-to-shoulder with supporters belting out “Wonderball” and apparently discovered what has eluded him for twenty years: a moment worth actually remembering. Never mind the 2020 Euros. Never mind the Nations League. Never mind the 213 goals. A man needs karaoke.
There is something almost poetic about a striker of Kane’s stature—a player who has spent two decades chasing silverware and redemption—deciding that the genuine article is standing in a noisy bar, slightly out of tune, with fans who probably paid forty quid for a pint. It is the ultimate modern sports moment: the trophy is the friendship we made along the way, and the friendship is mediated through a song written in 1996 that everyone knows the words to.
The England camp has not won anything since 1966. Kane has won nothing with his country. But he has now experienced something the statisticians cannot quantify: the raw, unfiltered joy of singing Wonderwall. Pundits will spend hours analyzing his pressing and positioning. None of it will matter. History will remember the night he found his true calling: backing vocals.
One suspects the Three Lions would trade their next trophy for five more minutes of this.