Football Fever | With luck, Kane roars loudest for Three Lions

RUSSIA (AP):

Harry Kane now has a permanent souvenir from the World Cup.

The England striker grabbed the game ball and kept it in his grasp after scoring a hat-trick in his team's 6-1 win over Panama yesterday.

Those goals - two penalties and a lucky deflection - made Kane the third Englishman after Geoff Hurst and Gary Lineker to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match.

"One to be proud of," said Kane. "Not many players get to score a hat-trick in a World Cup."

The third goal was "probably one of the luckiest ones of my career", he added. It came when a shot from teammate Ruben Loftus-Cheek deflected off his heel and wrong-footed Panama goalkeeper Jaime Penedo.

The other two were penalties, but it didn't matter that his goals weren't vintage. It was enough to put England into the round of 16 with a match to spare.

Kane now has a tournament-leading five goals at the World Cup, one more than Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku.

"You've got some of the best players in the world doing well, scoring goals, so it's nice to be up there," Kane said. "But for me, it's just about the wins. The most important thing is that my goals help my team win. I just hope to continue it."

In hailing Kane, England's coach, Gareth Southgate, said, "He's there. He's up at the top. We wouldn't swap him for anyone. We know when he gets opportunities, he's going to bury them."

Kane was expected to lead England's attack, but defender John Stones wasn't. The centre back contributed two goals with a pair of headers. That gives him more World Cup goals than he has in 122 games in the Premier League, where he has scored only once.

Stones said his cellular phone was "blowing up" with messages after his goals. But he's more concerned with Kane's tally and his chance to beat Ronaldo and others to the Golden Boot for the tournament's top scorer.