Micah Richards brands Gary Lineker 'irrelevant' after Harry Kane shoots England to Croatia World Cup win

Micah Richards jokingly claimed Gary Lineker would become "irrelevant" after Harry Kane moved level with the former England striker's World Cup goals record during the Three Lions' thrilling victory over Croatia.

Kane struck twice in England's entertaining 4-2 win in Texas, taking his tally at football's biggest tournament to 10 goals and matching the mark Lineker set during his illustrious international career.

Lineker, however, insisted he was delighted to see England's captain draw level and hailed Kane as the finest striker his country has ever produced.

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, the 65-year-old quipped: "I'm absolutely delighted that Kane equalled my record. I'm still ahead on alphabetical order and that's all that matters.

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"On a serious note, welcome to the double-figures club. It's great. I mean, it may have taken him a World Cup more.

"In all seriousness, Harry Kane is, I think, the greatest English striker we've ever had. I genuinely think that now.

"His all-round game, that's, for me, what separates him from all the others."

Former England captain Alan Shearer agreed that it is only a matter of time before Kane overtakes Lineker outright.

Gary Lineker’s reaction to Harry Kane equalling his goal scoring record against Croatia.

Get his full take on The Rest is Football tomorrow from 6am BST. pic.twitter.com/IgposVrtuD

— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) June 17, 2026

"Harry Kane has seen Messi, has seen Mbappe, has seen Haaland all come on and go straight away and go, 'Boof', get the goals," Shearer said.

"It's only a matter of time before he breaks your record."

Richards then seized his opportunity to poke fun at his fellow presenter.

"H, just one more to go, please! And then this guy becomes so irrelevant! Thank you!" he joked while pointing towards Lineker.

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Guest Harry Maguire, who was overlooked by Thomas Tuchel for England's World Cup squad, also lavished praise on Kane having played alongside him at the previous two tournaments.

"You can't speak highly enough of him," Maguire said.

"Because, on the pitch, he's unbelievable. But, off the pitch, he's a massive leader."

Lineker's comments represented a notable change in tone from Euro 2024, when he famously branded England's display against Denmark as "s**t".

Kane hit back at the criticism at the time, arguing that former players such as Lineker and Shearer had been "part of" England's failures stretching back to 1966.

This time, though, Lineker was full of admiration after England made an encouraging start to life under Tuchel.

"What a promising start," he said.

Shearer was equally enthused by England's display, describing the Three Lions as "fabulous" and praising Tuchel for making bold substitutions at a crucial stage of the contest.

"His substitutions were really refreshing because they were really positive at a really sticky time of the game," Shearer said.

"He could have gone all defensive. But he went, 'No, I'm not having any of that'.

"I thought his substitutions at the right time were absolutely fantastic and can be really encouraging going forward."

Jude Bellingham was another player singled out for praise after scoring England's third goal, with Richards describing the Real Madrid midfielder as a "big-game player" who "always delivers".

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