ATLANTA -- Harry Kane saved England's World Cup hopes with two late goals against Congo DR and according to his teammate Anthony Gordon, Kane is now playing at Lionel Messi-esque levels.
Congo DR were on the verge of a monumental World Cup upset after Brian Cipenga opened the scoring after just seven minutes. England continued to pile pressure on Congo DR's backline, but had to wait until the 75th minute for Kane to nod home an equaliser, and he then scored a brilliant winner with five minutes left on the clock to put England through 2-1.
Kane had already secured his spot as England men's all-time record scorer in World Cups with his goal against Panama last Saturday, and alongside his brace of goals against Croatia and his double versus Congo DR, he's now on five goals for the tournament, just one off Messi and Kylian Mbappé.
"It's amazing to be around him every day because when you're around someone at the elite level, he's at the very, very top of football," Gordon said of Kane. "He's having a season that's only ever been beat by Leo Messi, the greatest footballer of all time. So that speaks to the level he's playing at.
"When you're around someone like that, you want to pick up as many habits and watch everything he does to see why he's at that level. It's no accident. It's consistency every day: how hard he works, every finishing drill, he does it with passion, he does it with seriousness. He never, ever misses a beat. It's amazing to be around him. He's definitely an inspiration to all of us."
And on Kane's winner, Gordon said: "As soon as he hit it, I knew it was going in. I was already celebrating, but anyone can score a good goal. Anyone at this level can place the ball in the top corner but it's the consistency that he does. Every day in training, every game is phenomenal. He plays at such a high, high level."
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Despite England's growing frustration, Gordon was adamant England were going to find a way to win. "I never thought they were going to beat us. I knew we would win because I'm trusting everyone on that pitch. I know how to work in training. It's going to be difficult for anyone to meet us over 90 minutes because we work so hard and if they do, they'll deserve to win because we give everything.
"We train hard and we play hard. I just try to make an impact. I tried to be direct. I knew they'd be tired so I just tried to be direct, tried to make them more tired and give the ball to Harry."
