Consensus view: The BBC Sport data team calculated that Kane's 11 World Cup goals arrived across three tournaments at a higher per-game rate than Lineker's 10. Lineker scored six of his 10 goals at the 1986 Mexico tournament alone, winning the Golden Boot, and four across his other two World Cups. Kane has distributed his goals more evenly across 2018, 2022, and 2026, suggesting greater consistency across editions rather than a single peak performance.
Counter-view: Several English football journalists noted after the Panama match that Kane's goals record includes a high proportion scored in routine group wins against lower-ranked sides, a pattern amplified by the expanded 48-team field in 2026.
Lineker's six at 1986 came in a 24-team tournament where England reached the quarter-final and faced Argentina (including Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' match) and Paraguay. The quality of opposition faced at 1986 versus Panama in 2026 is not equivalent.
Key tension: Whether Kane's record, set partly against group-stage opponents of varying quality across three expanded or semi-expanded tournaments, is directly comparable to Lineker's, set almost entirely at a 24-team 1986 World Cup where England needed to beat strong opponents to stay in the competition.