Harry Kane becomes England’s second all time top scorer
Harry Kane moved level with Sir Bobby Charlton on 49 England goals as they came from behind to beat Switzerland in a friendly at Wembley.
England were grateful to the excellence of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the first half but they still fell behind when Breel Embolo’s header put Switzerland in front after 22 minutes.
Gareth Southgate’s side were second best to the confident Swiss but were handed a route back into the game when Fabian Frei’s error ended with Luke Shaw providing an emphatic finish for England’s equaliser in first-half stoppage time.
England, who gave debuts to Marc Guehi, Kyle Walker-Peters and Tyrick Mitchell, completed the turnaround with 12 minutes left when Kane scored from the spot after VAR adjudged that Steven Zuber had handled from a corner.
Kane scored with his usual expertise and now stands just four goals behind England’s record marksman Wayne Rooney.
England, perhaps understandably, struggled for any rhythm over long periods as manager Southgate gave his line-up an experimental appearance for the first of two Wembley friendlies in this international break.
It was only the fine work of Pickford that prevented Switzerland establishing a more decisive advantage before Frei’s error gave England an equaliser they barely deserved in the closing moments of the first half.
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Walker-Peters did well to stretch and intercept Frei’s risky clearance, allowing the excellent Conor Gallagher to provide a pass that rolled into the path of Shaw, who made no mistake at the same end where he scored for England in the Euro 2020 Final against Italy at Wembley in the summer.
Under Southgate, England have developed a habit of getting the job done on many occasions when they have not been at their best and so it proved again as an improved second-half display ended with Kane’s winner.
Kane has been approaching his best for Tottenham in recent weeks and he scored from the spot with power and precision as he took a step closer to the England record books.
He now stands just those four goals behind Rooney’s record of 53 and it is only a matter of time before he takes top spot, currently standing on a highly impressive tally of 49 goals from 68 appearances.
England struggled in the opening 45 minutes, Southgate’s plans disrupted in the moments before kick-off when John Stones was injured in the warm-up. He was replaced by Ben White, who saw Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross float over his head for Embolo to score.
Gallagher pressed his claims with a fine performance, although Declan Rice’s absence from the starting line-up, then his appearance as a substitute, only emphasised his crucial importance to every element of Southgate’s plans in this World Cup year.
Southgate will enjoy another morale-boosting victory and he can experiment further when England meet Ivory Coast here at Wembley on Tuesday.
