Harry Kane revealed he was motivated by watching Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi make good starts at the World Cup, following their brace against Croatia.
England took control of Group L with a thrilling 4-2 win over Croatia in Dallas on Wednesday, with captain Kane scoring twice in the first half.
Croatia got the Three Lions back after their two goals, but Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford were on target as an improved second-half performance saw them take all three points.
Kane’s double, which consisted of a repeated penalty and a header from a Declan Rice corner, made him only the second England player to score in three World Cups (2018, 2022 and 2026), after David Beckham (1998, 2002, 2006).
And the forward also tied Gary Lineker as England’s all-time top scorer in World Cups, with 10 goals (six in 2018, two in 2022, two in 2026).
After the match, Kane was asked if he had been inspired by a series of performances by big names the previous day at the tournament.
During Tuesday’s matches, Mbappé scored twice in a 3-1 victory over Senegal to become France’s all-time leading scorer, and also moved within just two goals of the World Cup goals record, which at the time was held solely by Miroslav Klose.
Haaland then produced a brace during Norway’s 4-1 thrashing of Iraq in the same group, extending his scoring streak in competitive international matches to 11 consecutive matches.
But Messi surpassed them both with a hat-trick in Argentina’s 3-0 victory over Algeria, equaling Klose’s record of 16 World Cup goals and becoming the oldest player to score a hat-trick at a finals, at the age of 38.
And Kane admitted he wanted to keep up with those other superstars, saying: “I obviously watched the lads score their goals and I don’t like to focus too much on other people.
“But I think it’s natural, as a sportsman, as an athlete, to try to reach the highest levels and obviously all those guys started off in a great way.
“I think that, as a striker, I obviously want to score as soon as possible, so I think that, deep down, the competition helps me improve my levels.
“You know, that’s what the World Cup is for, for the best players to perform at the highest level, so it was good to have a couple, for sure.”
England won its first match in three consecutive World Cups for the first time, this being its seventeenth participation in the finals.
Ghana now awaits them on matchday two, on Tuesday at Boston Stadium, before concluding Group L by facing Panama four days later.
And Kane said everyone in the Three Lions camp was desperate to get out on the field after watching the other matches of the tournament.
“We’ve been waiting long enough to just play,” Kane added. “We had to wait six days, so I think everyone was eager to get out.”
