When Chris Wood and Harry Kane were team-mates … and the All Whites’ future captain started more than England’s
Saturday, 6 June 2026
Chris Wood and Harry Kane are expected to captain the All Whites and England respectively when they meet in Tampa, Florida this weekend.
Thirteen years ago they were team-mates for three months at Leicester City in the English Championship.
Wood had just signed permanently, while Kane was on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.
Their time together ended in a dramatic loss to Watford you have probably seen the highlights of.
You have probably seen how it ended – without even knowing what it was, because it was only a small footnote in a much larger event.
Anthony Knockaert steps up to take a stoppage-time penalty to send Leicester City through to the final of the English Championship's promotion playoffs, but Watford goalkeeper Manuel Almunia comes up trumps and saves it, then saves the follow-up.
Within 20 seconds, The Hornets are up the other end of the pitch, scoring a goal that breaks the deadlock and sends them through instead. “Here's Hogg… Deeney!” was Jonathan Pearce's immortal line of commentary. “Most dramatic end to a football match?” asked Watford's YouTube account. A thrilling highlight everyone except fans of the losing team will never get tired of watching.
The New Zealand interest lies in what happened for Leicester City 97 minutes before that, on a sunny May Monday in 2013.
As the biggest match of their season began at Vicarage Road, Chris Wood – then a 30-cap All White, now a record-breaking 89-cap All White, on the verge of leading the team at this year's World Cup – was joined up front for The Foxes by one-cap England international David Nugent.
On the bench were future England internationals Harry Kane – now their 2026 World Cup captain and the owner of 112 caps – and Jamie Vardy – who retired from international duty in 2018 with 26 to his name. Kane replaced Wood just after the hour mark, while Vardy – three seasons away from scoring for fun in the English Premier League as Leicester won a remarkable title in fairytale fashion – remained unused.
Put simply: The All Whites' future skipper started ahead of England's future skipper, as he did quite often during their three months as team-mates.
On Saturday in Tampa, Florida, Wood and Kane are expected to lead their sides as they meet in a pre-World Cup friendly – the first of two for England, but one that has taken on added importance for New Zealand in the wake of their 4-0 loss to Haiti in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday.
Thirteen years ago – from February 20 to May 13, 2013 – they were team-mates at Leicester, taking the field together 10 times and playing in the same match another five, including both legs of the playoff semifinal.
Wood had arrived as that year started, in a permanent move from West Bromwich Albion shortly after turning 21, choosing Leicester over Millwall, where he had starred in the first half of the season on loan, while Kane was there on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, aged 19, an England youth international of great promise.
Wood finished that season with nine goals in 20 Championship matches for Leicester, while Kane scored two in nine. Neither scored in either leg of the playoff, with Nugent scoring The Foxes' only goals as they suffered a 3-2 aggregate defeat, thanks to Troy Deeney's late strike on the counter for Watford.
Kane's star began to shine with Spurs in the Premier League two seasons later, when he scored 21 goals as a 21-year-old. Wood scored his first Premier League goal for Leicester the same season, but after that needed two more moves and two more seasons in the Championship before he became a regular at the highest level for Burnley.
When he moved to Bayern Munich in Germany three years ago, Kane had scored 213 Premier League goals and sat second on the competition's all-time list. With 92 to his name and now at Nottingham Forest, Wood sits 41st.
So what does New Zealand's most-capped player and leading goalscorer remember about playing and training with England's leading goalscorer, who is on track to soon also be his country's most-capped player?
“He was an excellent finisher, both left foot and right foot,” Wood told Stuff last weekend in Florida. ”He was one of the most clinical finishers I'd ever seen. His finishing ability was top, even then, and there was no surprise when he went back to Tottenham and started scoring the goals that he scored.
“It was no surprise to me because he had that finishing ability on lock. I think he just needed a manager to give him confidence. He made that [striker's] role at Spurs his own and he was fantastic for them for a long time.”
It took him a bit longer, but Wood eventually found his Premier League backer at Burnley in Sean Dyche. There, then at Newcastle United and at Forest, he came up against Spurs teams featuring Kane 12 times, sharing a pitch with him on 11 more occasions.
It was against Kane and Spurs that Wood scored his first Burnley goal – his second in the Premier League – nine years ago, a late equaliser that meant his debut ended in a 1-1 draw. He also played in two wins over them, but otherwise suffered nine defeats.
The All Whites will be bigger underdogs against the Three Lions than any of Wood's Premier League clubs ever were against Tottenham, but they know they have a striker who is no stranger to scoring against players of England's quality.
The big question is whether the defenders who conceded four to Haiti can keep out Kane and co.
It doesn't appear England's talisman has ever been asked about his former Kiwi team-mate, even though the reverse has happened many times. It would be something if there was to be a reason for that to change this weekend in Tampa.
As for that playoff match with the unforgettable ending, Wood and Kane's last together before going their separate ways?
“We had four very top-class strikers at the time, probably the best in the Championship as an attacking line, but it's one of those big moments, big occasions, where it doesn't go your way,“ Wood said.
“It went Watford's way that time, but I do think the team probably wasn't ready and it showed. The next season we were so aligned, so together, that we ran away with the league [and won promotion].
“It was the right thing to happen for the long-term future of the club and then the club went on to do fantastic things and as we know, Jamie' Vardy - the forgotten man in the Wood-Kane narrative – 'went on to have a fantastic career at Leicester, well and truly.“
All Whites – 2026 FIFA World Cup
Squad
GK: Max Crocombe, Alex Paulsen, Michael Woud; DF: Callan Elliot, Tim Payne; Tyler Bindon, Michael Boxall, Nando Pijnaker, Tommy Smith, Finn Surman; Liberato Cacace, Francis de Vries; MF: Lachlan Bayliss, Joe Bell, Matt Garbett, Eli Just, Ben Old, Alex Rufer, Sarpreet Singh, Marko Stamenić, Ryan Thomas; FW: Kosta Barbarouses, Callum McCowatt, Jesse Randall, Ben Waine, Chris Wood
/results (NZ time)
Friendlies
June 7, 8am: v England; Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
World Cup group G
June 16, 1pm: v Iran; SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles, California
June 22, 1pm: v Egypt; BC Place, Vancouver
June 27, 3pm: v Belgium, BC Place