It continues to be a very exciting summer at Tottenham Hotspur, with plenty of topics to discuss. What offseason, right?
So let’s take a spin through the latest news and notes items making the rounds on the internet today.
It’s easy to see why Harry Kane is burning up social media right now in the wake of England’s 6-1 destruction of Panama.
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/1010867138553401345
This is the first time England has ever scored six goals in a World Cup game, and prior to today, they hadn’t even scored five. The last time they scored four was in their 1966 title game triumph. Kane led the way with a hat trick this afternoon, and now Three Lions are officially through to the knockout round.
A draw or better on Thursday against Belgium means they win Group G. Kane has scored in every single England game where he’s worn the captain’s armband.
In the interests of fairness and accuracy in reporting though, it was kind of a dumb way to score a hat trick, as the Tottenham face of the franchise wasn’t even really paying attention on the third.
Harry Kane's at the 2018 #WorldCup:
????????????
6 shots, 5 on target, 5 goals.
Leading scorer. pic.twitter.com/86U0m8v1Oa
— Squawka (@Squawka) June 24, 2018
Hey, when things are right, they’re right. Sometimes you can make your own luck. Two of his goals came from the penalty spot, and the third was just extremely weird, but in a very beneficial way. His teammate, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, saw his shot deflected into the net via the means of Kaner’s back heel, but hey, they all count the same.
Thus we take a look at these stats to see where Kane stacks up with the other prolific scorers in this tournament.
The race for the golden boot is on!
5?? Harry Kane #ENG?
? 31 mins per goal4?? Romelu Lukaku #BEL?
? 37 mins per goal4?? Cristiano Ronaldo #POR?
? 45 mins per goal3?? Denis Cheryshev #RUS?
? 47 mins per goal3?? Diego Costa #ESP?
? 55 mins per goal pic.twitter.com/VhhftoDWA1— ?ROUND THE GROUNDS (@ArndTheGrnds) June 24, 2018
Loftus-Cheek was only in the team because Dele Alli is injured, and we expected that once we saw manager Gareth Southgate’s leaked team sheet (yes, that’s a re-occurring theme at this World Cup) on Thursday, which had Alli separated away from the depth chart in a medical category, and RLC in his place.
Southgate would say on Friday that his leaked notes were not a starting lineup, and at the same time he made a bizarre statement commanding the English media to support his team and violate basic journalistic ethics.
The notes also showed Marcus Rashford in the first team for Raheem Sterling, which obviously didn’t happen, and maybe that was by design AFTER the leak. Perhaps Southgate wanted to send a message.
-Finally, in the words of The Beatles ,”here comes the Son.”
–Son Heung-Min apologized for not scoring after South Korea’s first game/loss at the World Cup. He did score in the South Koreans’ second match, but it was also a loss, and thus it looks like the side will be going on holiday soon. Son cried after the match, and SB Nation’s Tottenham community, Cartilage Free Captain, has more at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to any and all of his.