Harry Kane: ‘I now want to score 100 goals in my 100 England caps’

Harry Kane says he wants to after winning his 100th cap for England by scoring 100 goals for his country.

The 31-year-old will on Tuesday night become just the 10th player to reach 100 appearances for England – and the second youngest after Wayne Rooney – and said he was inspired to emulate the longevity of Cristiano Ronaldo, who is still playing at 39.

Kane will captain England in the Nations League against Finland at Wembley, aiming to add 66 goals to his tally, 13 more than Rooney’s previous record. He has suggested he could reach 100. At his current rate of two goals in three, Kane needs 51 more caps, including against Finland, and obviously to surpass goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s England record of 125 appearances, to reach his 100th goal mark.

The forward also said that despite all his achievements, he remains motivated to prove the doubters wrong, as he has been throughout his career.

“It’s possible, it’s there,” Kane said when asked if scoring 100 goals for England was feasible. “What is it, 34 goals? [to reach the total]? I mean, it’s strange, I’ve talked about it a bit, 100 caps has come so quickly, especially in the last few years playing three major tournaments in such a short space of time.

“Over the years I’ve been making about 15, 16, 17 caps a year, when a normal year would be 10. The targets were similar. I thought I was at 30 and then, bam, I went to 50 and 60. It’s definitely there and it’s definitely possible. I feel like I’m in a good position and those are good targets to try to achieve.

“Some might consider them unrealistic, but I’d rather go for something unrealistic and not achieve it than just say I’ll be happy with 70 or 80 goals.”

Ronaldo scored the 901st goal of his career – and his 132nd for Portugal in 214 appearances, a record for internationals – in the win over Scotland on Sunday and Kane said: “At 31, I’m in a good place mentally and physically and some of the players in front of me, like Ronaldo, have helped me prove that I can be at this level for a long time.”

After the disappointment of losing a second European Championship final, this time to Spain, Kane is already setting his sights on the next World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. “As long as I’m still at the level I’m at, I know I can help this country succeed. That motivates me,” he said.

“Even after the summer, we know that we were still very close to achieving the ultimate dream. But it was not the case. Now we say to ourselves: ‘OK, I know I can help this team to get back there. A World Cup in two years’.”

The biggest achievement is to stay at the top level for so long and Kane says he is training harder than ever. He calls working on his finishing “my happy place”.

He added: “You see a lot of players who have a few good seasons but then they drop off and the hardest thing to do is to maintain that performance and play consistently at the highest level. That’s why I have so much respect for Ronaldo. [Lionel] “Messi and these players. To be able to do that for 15 or 20 years, it’s a state of mind and an achievement.”

Part of the motivation comes from the doubts and rejection Kane has faced, from leaving Arsenal at the age of eight to his imminent departure from Tottenham Hotspur.

“I’ve never been the guy that everyone thought was going to go on and do what I’ve done,” Kane said. “I think it’s just my desire to get better and progress.

“Step by step in my career, I went out on loan, I had some good loans, some not so good ones, but I still had to fight for my place, fight for the opportunity to show that I could play at the level I wanted to – in the Premier League at the time and in England.

“Throughout my career there have always been people who doubted me. If you score 30 goals, the question is: can he score 40? If you score 40, can he score 50? I think it’s just the world we live in today and sport in general, there’s always an expectation and I also think when you start to reach high levels consistently, all of a sudden 30 goals aren’t enough, you have to score 40.”

“It helps me to be consistent and keep improving. [American footballer] Tom Brady has been a huge inspiration to me. I’ve talked about him and his mentality before. He’s a perfect example of that and he’s become the best in his sport. But even at 42 or 43, he still had to prove others wrong and prove to himself that he was good enough.

“I think until I stop playing I’ll always have that attitude and I think deep down that’s what drives me.”