England v Finland LIVE: Nations League result as Harry Kane scores twice on 100th appearance
England 2-0 Finland: Two goals from the captain were enough for Lee Carsley’s team to secure a second win of the autumn international break
England continued their winning streak under interim manager Lee Carsley as they backed up their victory over the Republic of Ireland with a 2-0 win against Finland at Wembley.
The Three Lions impressed in the first half in Dublin with a free-flowing and agressive style of play but here they were frustrated trying to break through a low block though Anthony Gordon was a bright spark on the left side especially when combining with Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis.
Harry Kane, making his 100th appearance for England tonight, thought he’d opened the scoring with a fine header from Bukayo Saka’s cross but the goal was chalked off for offside resulting in a goalless first 45 minutes.
But, Kane broke the deadlock with a blistering second half strike. He added a second after being fed the ball in the box by substitute Noni Madueke and capped off a night to remember with another superb win.
Relive all the updates from the Nations League match between England and Finland below.
Key talking points as England face Finland
England changes on the cards
While Carsley will not take beating Finland for granted, the interim boss is planning some changes for Tuesday’s match.
The 50-year-old says he wants to “freshen the team up a little bit” and plans two or three alterations as he balances team and player needs. Tino Livramento and Noni Madueke will be hoping to make their debuts having seen Angel Gomes and Morgan Gibbs-White win their first caps off the bench on Saturday.
John Stones, a late introduction at the Aviva Stadium, will surely come into the defence.
Key talking points as England face Finland
Carsley’s first Wembley match
Lee Carsley leads England at Wembley for the first time, three days on from starting his interim reign with an encouraging 2-0 win away to the Republic of Ireland, who he represented as a player.
The England Under-21s boss has never coached at the national stadium before and wants to excite fans in their first match there since losing June’s Euro 2024 send-off friendly against Iceland.
“I think it’s important that we’re exciting to watch,” Carsley said on the eve of the game. “I think when fans come to watch England play at home they expect attacking football, they expect chances to be created and to play with a tempo and us to be on the ball.”
Key talking points as England face Finland
Kane becomes a centurion
Tuesday’s match will see skipper Harry Kane join an elite band of players to have won 100 senior caps for England.
The striker has come a long way since his goalscoring debut against Lithuania in March 2015, going on to break the all-time national scoring record set by Wayne Rooney – the last player to reach a century of appearances a decade ago.
Kane currently sits on 66 goals and you would be a brave man to back against him celebrating reaching this latest milestone by adding to that tally on Tuesday, when the England captain will be presented with a golden cap before kick-off.
Harry Kane interview: ‘Practising finishing on the training pitch is my happy place’
There are moments when Harry Kane is watching younger players conduct a modern finishing session and starts to get irritated.
“The ball comes to you, you take a touch and finish… it’s not really realistic,” he says. “I try and do realistic training where it’s game scenarios, bobbly ball, half a second to swivel and hit, crosses that have been whipped in at fast tempo. It helps separate the good players and the top players.”
Such realistic sessions have also helped lead to what Kane himself calls “unrealistic” targets.
One of those was 100 caps for England, which the 31-year-old will celebrate when he starts Tuesday’s Nations League match against Finland at Wembley. That’s the reason he is sitting down with media at England’s base this week, the Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre, but he’s reflecting on a lot more than the route here. That’s because the early doubts about him were much stronger than whether he would get even a handful of caps, let alone become England’s 10th centurion.
Harry Kane interview: ‘Practising finishing on the training pitch is my happy place’
The England captain reflects on the hard work that has gone into winning an ‘unrealistic’ century of caps ahead of his 100th game against Finland at Wembley on Tuesday night
Kane’s top 10 England moments ahead of 100th cap
2. A goal to put England in their first final since ‘66
By the time the semi-finals of Euro 2020 came around, the entirety of the country was gripped by football fever as Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions stood on the brink of the tournament’s final, which was to be held at Wembley.
The draw had opened up for England but Denmark would be no pushovers, as England found out when Mikkel Damsgaard gave the Scandinavians the lead in the 30th minute. A Simon Kjaer own goal levelled the contest, but it went all the way to extra-time at a tense Wembley.
England won a late penalty in the 104th minute, and Kane stepped up once more. Kasper Schemiechel was equal to him on this occasion, though the rebound fell nicely to the Englishman and he bundled it in to put his country in their first final since 1966.
1. World Cup golden boot
Though the single goals and individual moments are perhaps the more memorable highlights of Kane’s career, arguably his biggest achievement is the golden boot won at the 2018 World Cup.
The tournament may not have finished with a trophy for England, but the players had restored the feel-good feeling to the England team and there was plenty of hope for the future. To add to that, Kane received the golden boot for his six goals in Russia, and put his name on a list of era-defining players including Ronaldo, Thomas Muller, Gary Lineker and Miroslav Klose.
Kane’s top 10 England moments ahead of 100th cap
4. First World Cup and goals in the opener
Kane entered the 2018 World Cup having cemented his place among the world’s best, though hopes for England to go far in the competition were far from high among fans back home. A fairly tepid display in the opening match against Tunisia did little to boost the confidence, until Kane squeezed in a 91st-minute winner for his second goal of the game to get England off to a good start in Russia.
3. Breaking the record
England had little time to recover from the disappointment of the 2022 World Cup loss, and before long they were in action again as they met Italy – who had beaten them in heartbreaking fashion in the final of Euro 2020 – in the qualifiers for Euro 2024.
Kane stepped up to take a penalty in the 44th minute and lashed it past Gianluigi Donnarumma to give England a 2-0 lead. The match ended 2-1 in a notable win for England on Italian soil, but it will forever be more notable for Kane, as his goal made him England’s top scorer of all time, overtaking Wayne Rooney to sit alone on 54 goals for the Three Lions.
Kane’s top 10 England moments ahead of 100th cap
6. A second successive semi-final
England had done brilliantly at the 2018 World Cup, and at the delayed Euro 2020 provided another chance for the Three Lions to shine, with several matches – including the final – played at Wembley.
They were heavily fancied against Ukraine as the two sides met at the quarter-final stage in July 2021, and the Three Lions delivered on their early promise by putting four goals past their opponents.
Kane beat the offside trap and slid in to score the first goal, adding a header later on as England won 4-0 and the captain put to bed any doubts about his form and current ability.
5. A goal to silence the old enemy
Questions had started to be asked over Kane’s involvement at Euro 2020 as the first three matches came and went without the England captain having scored a goal.
As the Three Lions lined up against Germany in the round of 16, the country held its breath as an even match provided chances for both sides, before Raheem Sterling scored late to give England a narrow lead.
And in the 86th minute, a counter-attack found its way to Jack Grealish on the wing, and the Manchester City man played an inviting ball into the box that Kane obligingly headed past Manuel Neuer to spark bedlam at a half-full Wembley.
Kane’s top 10 England moments ahead of 100th cap
8. 50th England goal
Though he was chasing the record, which stood at 53 goals at this point in June 2022, Kane’s 50th goal for his country remained an important milestone, and he scored it in a 1-1 draw against Germany in Munich.
He became just the second player, after Rooney, to score 50 goals for the Three Lions when he slotted a penalty in the 88th minute.
7. Equalling England’s goalscoring record
Kane entered the 2022 World Cup with his status among the world’s best fully secured, and with Rooney’s record as all-time England top scorer in his sights.
The Three Lions met defending champions France at the quarter-final stage in Qatar, and in a time game in which Les Bleus had taken the lead in the first half, Kane equalised from the spot in the 54th minute after Bukayo Saka was brought down in the box.
This goal marked Kane’s 53rd for his country, and he became England’s joint-top goalscorer of all time. Unfortunately for the captain, it wasn’t to be his night in the end, as he missed from the spot in the 84th minute and England eventually lost 2-1.
Kane’s top 10 England moments ahead of 100th cap
10. Start as you mean to go on
Harry Kane burst onto the scene at Spurs with a run of brilliant goalscoring form, and he was quickly called up to Roy Hodgson’s side for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
He made his debut against Lithuania in March 2015, replacing Wayne Rooney as a 72nd-minute substitute, and took just 79 seconds to make his mark, scoring a header for the final goal of England’s 4-0 win.
9. Made captain after just two years
As Kane’s impressive form at club level continued, he quickly became a key component of the England team, and before long he found himself captaining the side.
The then-Spurs man wore the armband for the first time in June 2017, against Scotland in a qualifier for the 2018 World Cup. England had gone 2-0 down, but the captain completed the comeback with a stoppage-time goal to make it 2-2.
By the time the World Cup came round, Kane had established himself as England captain, and he led the Three Lions in Russia.
Harry Kane gives his reaction to reaching 100 caps for England
“When you look at the list [of players with 100 caps] it is a list of some our greatest players,” said Harry Kane, according by the BBC. “I’m sure when I’m retired I’ll look back on this with immense pride.”
Kane also revealed his next aim will be trying to reach 100 goals. He is already England’s all-time top scorer with 66 goals in 99 appearances in an almost-decade long career that started with his first cap in March 2015.
“I’ve done around 15, 16, 17 caps a year whereas a normal year would be 10,” he added, “The goals were similar. I felt I was on 30 goals and then I went to 50 and then 60.
“It is definitely there and definitely possible. I feel like I am in a good place and these are good targets to try to reach.
“Some people may see them as unrealistic but I would rather go for something unrealistic and not quite make it rather than be comfortable just saying I will be happy with 70 or 80 goals.”
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