Harry Kane passes Pelé's World Cup goal tally in England's comeback win

Harry Kane produced the moment England needed and, in doing so, wrote his name a little higher in the history books, scoring twice to overturn a deficit against DR Congo and carry his side into the last 16 of the World Cup. The brace lifted the England captain past Pelé on the all-time list of World Cup goalscorers, a marker of his consistency at football's biggest tournament.

England had not made it easy for themselves. Falling behind against a determined DR Congo, they laboured for long stretches and looked short of ideas until their captain intervened, first to level the score and then to complete the turnaround. It was the kind of decisive contribution that has come to define Kane's international career.

The milestone gave the match its historical weight. Passing a figure as iconic as Pelé on any scoring chart is a rare achievement, and to do so at the World Cup, the stage on which the Brazilian built his legend, lent the moment particular resonance. For Kane, it was recognition of years of reliable finishing on the international stage.

His goals were characteristic of his game. Kane has long combined a poacher's instinct in the box with the technique to finish from range and the composure to convert under pressure, and both strikes bore those hallmarks, arriving when England most needed a cool head in front of goal.

The result mattered as much as the record. Reaching the knockout rounds keeps England's campaign alive and avoids the early exit that would have overshadowed any individual milestone. A comeback win, rather than a comfortable one, may also give the squad a psychological lift heading into the tougher matches ahead.

The performance around Kane was less convincing, and England will know it. Struggling to break down an organised opponent, the team relied heavily on their captain to rescue them, a dependence that has been both a strength and a vulnerability. Against stronger sides in the knockout stage, others will need to share the goalscoring burden.

Manager and players alike will take encouragement from the character shown in recovering from a losing position. Tournament football often rewards resilience as much as flair, and the ability to win when not at their best is a trait shared by many sides that go deep in a World Cup.

For Kane personally, the achievement adds to a growing collection of records and milestones that have accompanied his rise to become one of the most prolific strikers of his generation. Yet he has been consistent in framing individual honours as secondary to team success, and the goals that mattered most on the day were the ones that kept England in the tournament.

Attention now turns to the last 16, where the margin for error narrows and the quality of opposition rises. England will hope that a hard-fought victory, capped by their captain's historic double, can be the platform for a deeper run rather than a warning of the difficulties to come.

Whatever follows, the day will be remembered for a captain delivering when it counted. Harry Kane passing Pelé at the World Cup is the kind of statistic that endures, and it arrived not in a dead rubber but in a match his team needed to win, which is precisely how the great goalscorers are measured.