Harry Kane opens up on the 'worst' moment of his career as England captain reveals ambitious goal target

Kane bagged a brace against Latvia on Tuesday night having sat out the 3-0 win over Wales last week due to injury. A two-goal salvo in Riga were Kane's fifth and sixth of World Cup qualifying and extended his scoring streak for club and country to eight matches.

The 32-year-old has made an imperious start to the 2025-26 campaign as he looks to follow up last season's Bundesliga success. Indeed, Kane has already scored 16 Bayern goals across just nine outings for the Bavarian powerhouse.

Bayern are the outright favourites to win the Bundesliga for the second year running and a real contender to lift the Champions League in Budapest next summer. Kane will be hoping it's a pre-cursor for the World Cup as England look to win the famous trophy for the first time since 1966.

Kane is also looking to right some World Cup wrongs as he aims to captain England to international glory. The striker missed a decisive penalty against France in the quarter-finals in Qatar in 2022 having already netted from the spot as England fell to a 2-1 loss to Didier Deschamps' side.

"I’d say that was probably the worst that I felt in any moment," Kane told the Telegraph. "Obviously I’ve lost finals before. To have that responsibility, you almost feel like it fell on my shoulders and I guess not being able to execute something that I’ve been able to execute many times in my career… I think that was the hardest part to process and take.

"I learnt from that, the way that motivated me to get even better and improve, not just from the penalty side in terms of improving my technique but as an all-round player. To know I want to be back there, I want to help England get back there."

Kane has revealed that miss prompted a change to his penalty taking technique, adding: "I changed my technique a little bit. I improved in that sense which I was proud of.

"And that’s always what I will try and do. In terms of that [penalty miss] being my last memory [of a World Cup], yeah, I’m looking forward to the next World Cup to try and put that right, to try and go further, to try and lift the trophy as we all dream of doing.

"And the opportunity is always there when that is coming around. I think those moments only shape you as a person, as a player and it’s definitely helped me to become a better player."

The Three Lions skipper has also revealed his ambitious goalscoring target for the national team. Tuesday's brace in Latvia took him to 76 England goals, and he believes he has what it takes to reach a century.

"I think it’s there," Kane said when asked if 100 international goals was a realistic target.

"The way I’m feeling right now, I’m not slowing down any time soon. I want to stay at this level for as long as I can. I’m on 76 now so that leaves 24 and we have a few more games between now and the World Cup and then try [to] edge closer to that 100.

"I am extremely proud to have broken Rooney’s record and now to be going ahead like I am. It is hard to process while I am still playing. In life it’s always about the next moment and the next camp, the next game. I’m aware that it’s a special achievement. I’ll be hungry for as many goals as possible and we’ll see how far I can go."

England qualified for the World Cup with two games to spare. And while some may feel the Three Lions can take their foot off the gas against Serbia and Albania next month, Kane has issued a rallying cry for teammates to maintain this momentum.

"I said in the changing rooms never take this for granted but ultimately we will come back in November [for the final two qualifiers at home against Serbia and away against Albania] and there are two more important games to carry on the momentum we are building so far," Kane said.

England's first set of games next March are yet to be decided but reports earlier this month suggested that are keen to host Uruguay and Japan as they gear up for next year's World Cup.