Harry Kane could score more goals than Ronaldo and Messi combined if he hits nets against Colombia
- Harry Kane is the top goalscorer at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
- The England striker has scored one goal more than his closest rival and has one game in hand as the Three Lions take on Colombia in a crucial Round of 16 clash this evening.
- Should Kane score in that match then he will have scored more 2018 World Cup goals than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi combined.
- Kane is gunning for the Golden Boot award, the prize given to the top scorer at the World Cup, as well as the World Cup itself.
- Read all of Business Insider's World Cup coverage here.
Harry Kane has the coveted Golden Boot firmly in his crosshairs.
The England striker is already topping the World Cup scorers table having hit the bullseye five times at the 2018 tournament in Russia, and is gunning for the Golden Boot title along with Belgium's Romelu Lukaku (four), Uruguay's Edinson Cavani, and France's Kylian Mbappé (both three).
Kane has already outscored Cristiano Ronaldo (four), Diego Costa (three), and Lionel Messi (one) - but the three pre-tournament picks to be top scorer have been forced to pack their bags and start their summer vacations early as Portugal, Spain, and Argentina were all eliminated from the World Cup in the early stages.
Ronaldo and Messi may be gone, but their special soccer spirit lives on - in Kane.
Former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp recently told SkySports.com that Kane "is our Messi, our Ronaldo."
Redknapp said: "He is the player that everyone is talking about. He has gone to another level and elevated his game. Everyone thinks he is one of the best players in the world now - he is in the top five and things can only get better."
Out of all Kane's strike rivals, he is most similar to Ronaldo.
No, he does not weave majestic soccer magic quite like Messi or match the animalistic ferocity of Costa, but he sure is Ronaldo's equal when it comes to self-belief, self-development, and self-fulfillment.
Ronaldo and Kane were skinny, hard-working teens
When Ronaldo first came to England in 2003, he was a skinny, awkward-looking teenager who was prone to too many stepovers. By the time he left the league six years later, he had developed into a muscle-clad powerhouse who had refined his skill set.
Kane, like Ronaldo, was also once a skinny player. He was tall, gangly, and says he "didn't even look like a proper striker."
But the arrival of Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino in 2014 - and a chance YouTube viewing of a Tom Brady documentary - changed Kane's game forever. His Brady-like dedication to the training ground saw him entrusted with a first-team spot at Tottenham Hotspur - and he has gone on to score an incredible 140 goals in 213 games in the years since.
Kane, like Ronaldo, has worked hard to perfect his craft. After years of improvement, he is, by far, England's best striker - a consistently powerful, agile, and sharp player capable of rifling a shot into the goal at will.
But he has the opportunity to do something Ronaldo never did - score in the knockout rounds of a World Cup tournament.
Should he score against Colombia in England's crucial Round of 16 clash at the Otkritie Arena in Moscow on Tuesday evening, then he will have scored more 2018 World Cup goals than Ronaldo and Messi combined, and stand an even greater chance of leaving Russia with the Golden Boot.
But, knowing Kane, he will not want to stop there.
Kane will want to help England win the whole thing. Kane wants to be the captain who brings football home. Kane wants the World Cup title.
"You have to believe," Kane told the BBC when asked if England can do it, shortly after the team's 6-1 pummeling of Panama. "There is a long way to go, a lot of hard work but we just have to stick to our game plan."
Considering his appetite on the training ground, nobody will have the hunger to implement that game plan as well as Kane.
All he has to do is strike tonight - and judging by his past Ronaldo-like performances, very few will bet against him.