England: Harry Kane dealt a new challenge - just as Thomas Tuchel prepares for World Cup bid

Harry Kane has effectively built a career and a global brand on scoring goals and feeding on doubts.

For Kane, your scepticism is fuel, pushing him to evolve his game, seamlessly recover from setbacks and be better every day.

So it is safe to assume that Kane will treat Lee Carsley’s remarkable decision to drop him to the bench for England’s 3-0 win over Greece on Thursday as just another challenge to overcome, a new and influential doubter to prove wrong.

Ollie Watkins, who replaced Kane in the XI, went a long way to vindicating Carsley’s brave call, opening the scoring after seven minutes as a youthful England took control of their Nations League group and offered a glimpse of a future without their captain and record-goalscorer.

The result and performance – against a Greek side who had previously not conceded at home in a year – helped to restore Carsley’s reputation after the catastrophe in the reverse fixture at Wembley and, barring an unexpected hiccup at home to Ireland on Sunday, ensured he will lead England back to the top-tier of the Nations League before handing over to Thomas Tuchel.

The match also raised the now-unavoidable question of whether Kane’s untouchable status for England has come to an end.

There were signs during the European Championship of Kane's new mortality, with Gareth Southgate willing to substitute him in big matches, but Southgate avoided confronting his captain's status head-on by starting him in every game in Germany, even when the evidence suggested Watkins would be a more dynamic option to lead the line.

In one respect, Carsley’s scepticism should not overly concern Kane – he will be gone in a few days – but Tuchel will face the same question.

The German has a history with Kane, who scored 44 goals in 45 appearances under him at Bayern Munich last season and, given their success together, Tuchel may decide to build around the 31-year-old for England’s 2026 World Cup campaign.

There remains compelling evidence that this would be a logical approach; goalscorers of Kane’s quality and consistency are like hen’s teeth in international football and it is not hard to think of recent occasions when Kane has bailed out a struggling England, including in the 1-1 draw in North Macedonia a year ago, when Watkins failed to make an impression before Kane emerged from the bench to force the equaliser.

It is, though, an unavoidable reality that if Tuchel wants to build a modern, high-pressing England team, based on the principles which are most successful at club level, Kane will be a less effective spearhead than Watkins or Dominic Solanke.

For all his brilliant hold-up play and finishing, it was striking how lumbering Kane appeared at the Euros and for the final half-an-hour in Athens after he replaced Watkins.

It has long been assumed that Kane would drop to No10 once he no longer had the legs to be a centre-forward but, at international level, that option has been cut off by the emergence of Jude Bellingham, who impressed in Athens, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden.

Tuchel could take a middle ground by continuing to select Kane in squads but choosing his centre-forward based on the occasion and opponent. But then there is a question of whether Kane would be a good squad player?

He is a model professional but has never been anything but the first name on the team-sheet for club and country since establishing himself in the Tottenham team a decade ago. Would Kane, who has never hidden his determination to play every minute of every game, be a brilliant sub or an egotistical distraction?

There are potential parallels with Portugal, who effectively sacrificed the chance to be a functional team at the Euros in service of 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo's ego.

Not starting Kane in every competitive match would also raise the delicate issue of the captaincy and whether it should pass to, say, Declan Rice or Bellingham.

Carsley’s decision to drop Kane came after his pointed slapdown of his teammates who had withdrawn from the interim head coach’s final camp, including Palmer, Foden, Bukayo Saka and Trent Alexander-Arnold – four players who feel nailed-on to be part of Tuchel's set-up.

Kane’s comments were characteristic but were perhaps a sign that he is a little removed from the new generation.

Almost all of his peers from the 2018 World Cup – Harry Maguire, Kieran Trippier, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Co – have been phased out of the England set up, while 34-year-old Kyle Walker’s position remains in doubt given the competition at right-back.

England’s younger players have enormous respect for Kane, who remains the most influential voice in the dressing room and an inspiring presence for new players in the squad, but his remarks point to the return of cracks in the group.

Kane is expected to start on Sunday, and a strong performance in Carsley’s final game in charge could shift the narrative back in his favour.

Kane has always been able to have the last word in the past and only a fool would bet big against him doing so again.

Maintaining his status for England during Tuchel's new era, though, feels like his biggest challenge yet.