Brace in a record appearance! Kane leads England to victory - Spain behind thanks to Merino | Goal.com

Veröffentlicht am 06 Oct 2026 | Lesezeit: 2 Minuten

Harry Kane marked his record-equalling England appearance in style. In the 3-0 (2-0) Nations League win over the Czech Republic, the Bayern Munich striker drew level with goalkeeper Peter Shilton's long-standing record on his 125th cap, then almost single-handedly drove the Three Lions to a fully deserved victory with a brace (40th/57th minute) and an own goal he forced (27th).

Three days on from the seven-goal show in Croatia (7-0), Kane struck his 90th and 91st international goals in front of 78,000 at Wembley in London. He has long been England's record goalscorer. For the 2-0, the captain only had to apply the finishing touch after a fine move, before heading in the 3-0.

Earlier, the 33-year-old had forced Vladimir Coufal into an own goal, with the Hoffenheim player turning Kane's waist-high delivery over the line without any pressure from an opponent. After 82 minutes, the matchwinner went off to a standing ovation. The Daily Mail wrote of a "historic evening" for "one of the greatest strikers this country has ever produced".

Following the narrow 3-2 defeat to Spain in their opening Nations League match, Thomas Tuchel's England have now claimed their third straight clean-sheet win. In November, the final two group games await in the battle for a quarter-final place, against Croatia (12 November) and possibly for top spot in the group in Spain (15 November).

World champions Spain have stretched their world-record run. Against a defensively strong Croatia side, who three days earlier had suffered the heaviest defeat in their history in the 7-0 against England, Luis de la Fuente's team secured a 2-1 (0-1) win on the fourth matchday of the Nations League thanks to a brace from Mikel Merino (61st/88th minute) and are now unbeaten in 42 matches.

The winner arrived after Ivan Perisic, who had earlier put Croatia ahead (17th), was sent off for a second booking (81st). Moments before that, the former Bundesliga professional had a second goal at his mercy against a Spain side that were careless at times, but failed to take a big chance against Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon (77th).

Perisic had headed Croatia in front after Bayern Munich's Josip Stanisic created the first big chance (13th). Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon could not hold a shot from Freiburg's Igor Matanovic. Soon after, Matanovic missed the chance to make it 2-0 after a poor pass from Simón (23rd).

Spain only threatened for the first time shortly before half-time, but Lamine Yamal could only find the side-netting after a superb pass from Pedri. After the restart, the world champions turned up the pressure and, after a miscued headed clearance by Stanisic, Merino scored from a Dani Olmo assist. Following Perisic's dismissal, the super sub then completed the turnaround with a wonderful goal.

Lesen Sie die Originalnachricht