Harry Kane: My game in my words

It’s late summer in the hazy Bavarian countryside.In a sports club half an hour outside Munich, beside pale stone houses buttered by the sunshine and deer chewing quietly at the grass, Harry Kane is talking The Athletic through an individual season for the ages.Kane scored 73 goals for club and country. But he is a prohibitive favourite to win the Ballon d’Or later this year because of his many other dimensions. Kane is football’s heavyweight goalscorer, but also the creative, physical and emotional heart of a Bayern Munich side that won a domestic double last season and will again contend to become European champions.So, with a laptop between us and highlights loaded up, each describing a different part of his game capturing him at his best, the England captain is ready to show us what football looks like through his eyes.This is Harry Kane, My game in my words…It’s the 86th minute of England’s World Cup round-of-32 tie against DR Congo. The score is 1-1 and having equalised, Kane is about to score a winning goal of the very highest quality.“It’s one of my best finishes in an England shirt,” he says, “maybe of my career.”With his back to goal, three defenders close by, and two team-mates — Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon — well placed to receive a pass, it does not look like a scoring opportunity at all.“Whenever I’m around the box, especially on the edge of the box, my first thought is always to get a shot off. Because I know that anywhere around there, if I can get a good touch and then a clean shot, then I’m either going to be working the goalkeeper or I’m scoring.”“In this moment, Ant does really well to see the pass, because he could have easily just taken another touch and gone wide, but he saw the forward pass.“I try to play on the half-turn as much as possible, so I can feel there’s a bit of space between me and the defender, so once I’ve had that touch, I’m then trying to process where the best place is to get a shot off — or where’s the quickest place to get a shot off.“I don’t know if you can see here,” he says, pointing to the moment when he escapes the defenders, “but I try to slow down, take a half-touch, wait, and then take a bigger touch and speed it up.”“Someone said to me recently — another player — that my biggest strength is being able to finish from uncomfortable positions. So, when I’m off-balance, I’m still able to get my shots off. A lot of players wouldn’t be able to generate the same power from that position.”Kane’s produced maximum power for minimal backlift (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)It’s a tendency that has shown throughout Kane’s career. There are plenty of examples just from last season of Kane making strong contact while falling or despite being challenged. His first goal of the season, against RB Leipzig. An edge-of-the-box curler against Union Berlin. Or against Real Madrid, in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final.The winner against DR Congo was another, with Kane shooting on the run, at a perpendicular angle from the goal and still producing a pure, violent contact.But in the split seconds after Kane freed himself from his markers, was the focus just on the contact or was there more method to it than that?“When I got there, I knew that the defender was blocking my cross-goal finish, so I was thinking: can I go with power and can I go at the front post?“Then, whenever I’m going front post, I’m always thinking that I probably need to start the shot outside the front post. So, in this situation, I’m actually using the defender.“When you’re playing and everything’s so quick, you see the defender’s shape rather than who it is. That’s why I practice against mannequins so much: because it means you have the vision in your periphery.“So, now I know he’s blocking a certain amount of the goal, I’m thinking I need to go strong, start it outside of him and then see how much power I can generate.”Kane fires England past DR Congo (Joosep Martinson – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)One of the biggest nights in Bayern’s season came in April, when they faced Real Madrid in the Bernabeu in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final.Kane was involved in the first goal, eventually scored by Luis Diaz, before bagging the second, at the end of a typical move, full of attacking chemistry, quick decisions and ruthless execution.It began in the seconds after half-time. Aleksandar Pavlovic stole possession in the middle of the pitch, Real are caught upfield and outnumbered, and Diaz, Michael Olise and Serge Gnabry begin to push forward on the counter.The Athletic pauses the clip.“First of all, I’m there for the second ball,” Kane says, pointing at his position, slightly behind his team-mates.“After (Pavlovic) wins the ball, I see Serge (Gnabry) making that run. If I was there, I’d be the one making that run, making sure that Michael then has the freedom to go one-on-one when he gets the ball.“I like to wait; I want to see how the play develops. It’s natural for all the Real Madrid players to start sprinting back to try to stop Serge, Lucho (Diaz) or Michael, so I’ll hover in a position. Michael might just go one-on-one and score — if so, perfect — but if not, then I’m going to end up in a position of space at the edge of the box, because two of their players are out, their wingers are out, and so right now in my head I’m waiting, even though I’m still running.”As the move develops, Kane continues to trail behind, remaining in the pocket of space as the attacking and defending players race away from him. He can also be seen glancing over his shoulder two or three times. What was he checking for?“It’s everything. I’m taking a picture in my head of what’s around me. I’ll be checking for whether there’s another midfielder or defender on my blindside. Do I have a team-mate who I can play in first-time when I get the ball? You’re always taking those pictures of what’s around you.“So here, for example, when I look over and see the winger is far away from me and see this defender is moving forward, I know that I’m going to have the whole edge of the box to myself.“If you move it (the clip) forward…“… then you can see me almost stop, because I know what’s coming.”At this point, Olise has reached the edge of the box. His threat draws in two defenders. Kane points out that Gnabry’s diagonal run has distracted a third, Antonio Rudiger.“But a really important part of this clip is Michael’s ball to me; it makes a big difference. Some players in this situation would just play a strong pass across, meaning that I’ve got to take a touch.“But Michael knows where I want to shoot and he lays it into the perfect position to finish first time.”“Right, so now I’ve got the pace of the ball (that I want). Had he played it harder, I would have had to take a touch and finish with my left. But as soon as the ball is released, I know that I’m going to be shooting from inside the D.“Then it’s dictated by where the defenders are. I’m looking at where Rudiger is and, actually, this might be one where I could have gone either side. But I think the front post can be hard for the ’keeper, because his momentum is taking him into the middle of the goal and now he’s got to go back to where he came from.”The same is actually true for Rudiger, who cannot block a shot shaped back across his body, against the momentum of his direction of travel.