England striker Harry Kane scaled new heights during his team's FIFA World Cup 2026 round of 32 clash against DR Congo in Atlanta on Wednesday.
The Bayern Munich star scored both goals as the Three Lions scripted a remarkable comeback to beat DR Congo 2-1 and qualify for the round of 16, where they will face Mexico.
Kane's brace took him to five goals in the FIFA World Cup 2026, putting him firmly in the race for the Golden Boot. France's Kylian Mbappe leads the top goal-scorers' standings with six goals, the same as Argentina's Lionel Messi.
Erling Haaland and Kane are tied on five goals, whereas Ousmane Dembele, Vinicius Junior and Islamia Sarr have scored four goals each.
Harry Kane breaks Pelé's record
By scoring his two goals against DR Congo on Wednesday, Kane broke Pelé's record for the number of goals scored in FIFA World Cups.
Pelé, a three-time FIFA World Cup winner with Brazil, had finished his tournament career with 12 goals from 14 matches. Kane's second goal against DR Congo on Wednesday was his 13th goal in the FIFA World Cup, having played three editions of the tournament so far.
The former Tottenham Hotspur player has played 15 FIFA World Cup matches thus far.
Kane, however, is still quite some distance away from Argentina star Lionel Messi's record for most FIFA World Cup goals. Messi recently broke German legend Miroslav Klose's record for most FIFA World Cup goals, and has so far scored 19 goals in 29 matches.
England found themselves 0-1 down in the seventh minute of their round of 32 clash against DR Congo after Brian Cipenga gave the African side an early lead. England were made to sweat for a majority of the match, but all their efforts paid off in the second half following Harry Kane's brace.
After the match, Anthony Gordon, Kane's England teammate, had compared him to Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Kane, however, didn't want to read too much into the comparisons.
Kane spoke to the media after the match. He said, "That's why you do all the work behind the scenes. The things that you guys don't see when we are in training, when we are at home doing recovery, doing ice baths, doing treatment - all the little details that make you be consistently at the highest level for as long as possible."
"And you know, those guys, like Messi and Ronaldo, they're at the pinnacle of that. So yeah, I'm feeling as well as I've ever felt, and ultimately, when I got onto the pitch, I know all the work I've done behind the scenes will make me ready for big moments. And that's exactly what happened out there today," he added.
England will take on Mexico in their round-of-16 clash at the Mexico City Stadium on Sunday.
