Shearer hails importance of match-winner Kane after England win

Alan Shearer lauded Harry Kane for scoring his first goals in a major tournament after his brace helped England get their World Cup off to a winning start against Tunisia.

Shearer, who scored when England beat Tunisia 2-0 in the 1998 World Cup, knows just how important it is for a striker to get off the mark so early in a tournament.

Kane opened the scoring in the 11th minute which a poacher’s finish before securing the win with a back post header to claim all three points for England.

Shearer believed Kane would have been desperate to get involved in the tournament after watching a number of the game’s biggest stars get amongst the goals.

“I can’t stress enough the importance (of those goals),” Shearer said on BBC1’s World Cup Match of the Day.

“He’d have sat for the last week watching Ronaldo, Griezmann and Pogba scoring goals knowing we would be talking about him and tournament football.

“The manager gave him the captain’s armband for one reason, he’s the go-to player when someone has to make a difference.

“It will give him huge confidence to get off the mark with your first goal, bring the games on.

“That’s why Gareth Southgate named him captain. When the manager is looking for someone to do something, you want the captain to do something.

“They kept going and nobody can say they didn’t deserve the win.

“It would have been so difficult for them if they didn’t get the win.”

The win put England level on three points with Belgium who beat Panama 3-0 earlier in the day.

Having named his squad early, there was pressure on manager Southgate to get off to a winning start.

And Shearer felt the performance will give Southgate and his players confidence going forward.

“It’s a great night for Gareth,” Shearer said.

“He was under huge pressure and he will look at his own performance.

“He named his squad very early and the players knew the system, now could they go about getting the result?

“We wanted England to give us a bit of hope and a performance that had energy and chances so there are plenty of positives.”