Keane was Kane's England team-mate - this week they are on different paths

Michael Keane and Harry Kane were England team-mates at the 2018 World Cup, two young players who had come through the age-group system together and who appeared to have the world at their feet. Eight years later, they meet as opponents in the World Cup semi-final, their careers having taken paths that could hardly be more different.

Kane, now 32, is England's captain, the country's all-time leading goalscorer and the most reliable centre-forward in the world. He has won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, the Champions League and, in 2025, the Ballon d'Or. His journey from the Tottenham academy to the summit of world football is a case study in talent maximised through discipline and intelligence.

Keane, also 32, is playing in his second World Cup but has never fully established himself at international level. His club career has been solid rather than spectacular: a long spell at Everton, a move to a mid-table Serie A side, a return to the Premier League with a newly promoted team. He has been a reliable Premier League defender for a decade, which is an achievement that almost any professional footballer would envy, but the comparison with Kane is unavoidable and unflattering.

The two have remained friends, and Keane has spoken warmly of Kane's achievements. But the semi-final will be a professional collision between two players who started at the same point and have travelled very different distances. Keane will be tasked with stopping Kane, and the outcome of that individual contest may determine the outcome of the match.

The story of their divergent paths is not a tragedy. Keane has had a career that the overwhelming majority of professional footballers would consider successful. But it is a reminder of the fine margins that separate the very good from the great, and of the fact that for every Harry Kane, there are a dozen Michael Keanes — excellent players who, for reasons of talent, timing or luck, never quite reached the summit.