The record books show that when Harry Kane last faced Panama, he scored a hat-trick and England won 6-1. It was the 2018 World Cup and the goals gave him an unassailable grip on the Golden Boot. It was the second group game and victory ensured England’s safe passage into the knockout rounds.

What not everyone remembers – although Kane certainly does – is how he completed the hat-trick. It was with one of the luckiest goals of his career. The England captain knew nothing about it because he was facing away from the ball. He merely felt Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s shot from outside the area flick off his heel and loop over the wrong-footed goalkeeper. His first two had come from the penalty spot. “A couple of pens and a lucky goal,” Kane said. “It wasn’t my most beautiful hat-trick. I’ll take that again on Saturday, for sure.”

Kane is gearing up for the rematch against Panama in New Jersey in England’s final group game of this World Cup and the point, at this stage of the competition, is that results are the only thing which stand the test of time. It does not matter how teams advance. Just that they do. England will probably top their group if they beat Panama and Kane knows it would then be job done; phase one complete.

Nobody will remember what happened in game two – the 0-0 draw against an ultra-defensive Ghana in Boston. Or Kane’s personal frustration. How he was man-marked by the Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey and could not get on the ball or find space. How, when he finally did in the 86th minute, he blazed over from the edge of the six-yard box. A gilt-edged chance he would normally have buried.

What Kane wanted to stress was that there was no stress. The Ghana game was a means to an end; a part of the process. The draw was fine. Kane had spoken to his teammates beforehand about England’s difficulties in the second match at the previous three tournaments – the draws against Scotland and Denmark at European Championships either side of the draw against the United States at the 2022 World Cup.

Each result had come after victory in the opening match and Kane wanted to highlight the importance of staying balanced and focused; basically doing better. Yet after another toothless draw, Kane just moved on to consider the bigger picture.

“This is the fourth tournament in a row where the second game hasn’t gone as well as we would have liked,” he said. “But, ultimately, it’s four tournaments in a row where we pretty much qualified after two games so it’s nothing to be ashamed of. That’s where me and the experienced guys who have lived through this will be a calming influence on some of the other boys.

“We’re in a good place. The tournament is always into two parts – the group stage and the knockout stage. The group stage is just about getting through, finding the rhythm, finding the players on the pitch and just getting them feeling that World Cup feeling. The knockout stage is then completely different. We’ve pretty much done part one, which is the main thing.”

It was a tough watch against Ghana, who set up in a compact 4-5-1. The Black Stars sat off the England centre-halves, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guéhi, allowing them to build the play. But thereafter it was Ghana’s defensive 10 against England’s attacking eight.

England found a bit of intensity towards the end, with Thomas Tuchel’s substitutions making a difference, especially Bukayo Saka. It was bold to introduce Eberechi Eze for Elliot Anderson in central midfield, with Declan Rice dropping into the No 6 role. Tuchel asked another of his substitutes, Nico O’Reilly, to push up from left-back.

England were compromised in the 79th minute when Eze lost possession and Ghana broke into the England area through the substitute Prince Kwabena Adu. Konsa’s challenge was desperate; his feet were off the ground. He appeared to block Adu with his legs and he made no contact with the ball. It looked like a penalty. England got away with it. But so did Ghana after O’Reilly’s header from a Reece James cross came back off the woodwork. When it broke for Kane, everybody knew what was about to happen. Except it did not. Kane sank to his knees and held his head in his hands.

There was a question to Tuchel after the game about whether England rely too much on Kane. The manager responded by saying that Argentina rely on Lionel Messi; France on Kylian Mbappé. It was a normal situation with world-class players. Tuchel said he did not consider taking Kane off and trying, say, Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney in the closing stages. At 0-0, why would you not want Kane on the field for the big chance, was the thrust of Tuchel’s argument. “Harry loves the responsibility,” he said. “We rely on him but we don’t overrely on him.”

Kane wears the burden lightly. “I don’t think there is an overreliance,” he said. “Any No 9 at a big team … people expect them to score goals and it’s no different for me. When you don’t, there are a few questions. There were good parts and parts we can improve against Ghana. It’s nothing to worry about and hopefully we can put it right against Panama.”

Kane does not overanalyse after a bad moment. One of the best things about him is that he is rarely spooked by a miss. He simply relies on his processes and techniques, and keeps on coming. It is one of the reasons why he has scored 69 goals in 60 matches for Bayern Munich and England this season.

“It’s part of a striker’s life,” Kane said. “I’ve had many chances go my way this year – chances that probably shouldn’t have gone in. There is also a feeling in football that it just doesn’t go your way [on some days]. Before my chance, Nico has hit the underside of the bar. We had a few half-sniffs.”

Tuchel will not be permitted the luxury of wholesale rotation against Panama but Kane does expect a few tweaks to the XI. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he made some changes and kept the team fresh,” he said. Just as long as Kane himself is not one of them.

He wants to play. He always wants to play and not only because he will scent opportunity against Panama, another Golden Boot boost, perhaps. Kane is already on to the next.