World Cup 2026: Why Harry Kane could play less minutes for England in the USA, Canada and Mexico this summer | Football News

England have three strikers at this World Cup, and Harry Kane’s replacements have never had such an important role.

In this hottest of World Cups, the question on everyone’s mind has been how many minutes England’s captain will be able to play.

Ever since Russia eight years ago, the traditional tournament talk has always surrounded who Kane’s best understudy is.

But the conversation around the camp is different this time, with Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins expected to get much more game time than they might have had in previous tournaments.

Why? Because Kane is 32, the heat and humidity is going to be crippling at times, and, quite frankly, England can only win the World Cup if Kane is fit and firing in the latter stages of this competition.

Furthermore, Kane has played more football this season than in any of the past three years.

In his final season at Tottenham, he played a total of 3,934 minutes.

In helping Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title this time out, he’s had 4,423 – almost a thousand more than he played in his first season in Germany.

Watkins told me he’s confident that all three forwards will get their moment to shine in the North American sun.

“Everyone has got a part to play in this competition,” said the newly-crowned Europa League champion. “Whether it’s in the early stages, later stages – you just have to be ready at the end of the day.

“We are all working together as a team to achieve something special.”

By the end of Euro 2024, Kane was utterly exhausted. Even though he was adamant it was not the case, the truth is he’d limped through the tournament, nurturing a back problem, and sitting in the stands in the quarter and semi-finals, I was struck by just how much Kane was walking around the pitch.

While the match cameras were focused on the play, off the ball, Kane was really suffering. Tuchel is determined that this cannot happen again to his talisman and chief goal-getter.

Remember, this is a newly-expanded tournament too, with 48 nations and an extra knock-out round en route to the final.

And the FA is expecting any game that kicks off before 5pm local time to see temperatures of 30C and above. Two of England’s group games begin at 4pm, the other is at 5pm.

All of that combined means Tuchel plans to wrap Kane in cotton wool – or rather, iced towels – as much as possible.

The England boss has already referred to some of his players in the past as “finishers” – options to come off the bench and offer something different up front, like Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze, or be used as a substitute late on to put a stranglehold on a game England are winning.

Watkins thinks England’s attacking options are nicely varied.

“Me and Ivan are different players and you need that. You need to have versatility,” he continued.

“Ivan is a proven goalscorer, he’s shown it throughout his career and even during the last Euros there were times where he came on when the team needed him, and then I had my moment in the semi-final as well [winner against the Netherlands].”

And so it will fall to Toney and Watkins to do many of the hard yards for their country in this World Cup.

Will Kane need to be risked at all against Panama in the final Group L game, for example, if England have already sealed a place in the knockout stages?

Does he need to be flogging himself in the heat if England are 3-0 up against Ghana in matchday two? All ifs and buts, of course, but they are plausible scenarios that Tuchel and his support staff have been preparing for.

Even though Kane is desperate to play every minute of every game for his country, it is not going to happen. Expect to see the captain staying cool and warming the bench, much more than he has done before.