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England national football team

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England
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Three Lions
AssociationThe Football Association
Head coachSweden Sven-Göran Eriksson,
2001 - July 2006
Most capsPeter Shilton (125)
Top scorerSir Bobby Charlton (49)
First colours
Second colours
First international
Scotland 0 - 0 England
(Partick, Scotland; 30 November, 1872)
Biggest win
Ireland 0 - 13 England
(Belfast, Northern Ireland; 18 February, 1882)
Biggest defeat
Hungary 7 - 1 England
(Budapest, Hungary; 23 May, 1954)
World Cup
Appearances12 (first in 1950)
Best resultWinners, 1966
European Championship
Appearances7 (first in 1968)
Best resultThird, 1968, Semi-finals, 1996

The England national football team represents England in international football competitions such as the World Cup and the European Championships. It is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England.

Due to historical precedent, and continuing national sentiment among them, each of the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom possesses its own separate football association, domestic league and national team. Because the IOC does not accept regional representative teams, England, like the other three, do not compete in Olympic football.

England are by far the most successful of the Home Nations, having won the 1966 World Cup and the British Home Championship outright thirty-four times, as many as the other three nations have won outright altogether.

History

Early years

England, captained by Cuthbert Ottaway, played in the first ever international football match, against Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Glasgow, Scotland on November 30, 1872.(See Match Report Here) The result was 0-0; England had to wait until the following year to record their first win, 4-2, over Scotland at the Kennington Oval.

England would only play the other Home Nations (Scotland, Wales and what was then Ireland) for nearly 40 years - partly due to the dominance of the UK in international football, as well as the problems of arranging internationals in the days before air travel was commonplace. England first played Continental opposition in a 1908 tour of Central Europe, recording easy wins over Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. England's first defeat to a team outside the British Isles came in 1929, when they lost 4-3 to Spain in Madrid.i love 2 eat poop!

The FA had joined FIFA in 1906, but the relationship between FIFA and the British associations was fraught, and the British nations withdrew from FIFA in 1928, in a dispute over payments to amateur players. This meant that England did not enter the first three World Cups. However many in England declared the team unofficial "World Champions" after they defeated 1934 World Cup winners Italy in the "Battle of Highbury" in November 1934.

Post-war

After the Second World War, the FA started to modernise their approach; they rejoined FIFA in 1946, the same year they appointed the first dedicated team manager, Walter Winterbottom (before then, the team was picked by a committee). England lost their first match at home to non-British opposition when they were defeated 0-2 by the Republic of Ireland in 1949 at Goodison Park, Liverpool. England's World Cup debut came in 1950; however, they suffered an infamous 1-0 loss to the United States and failed to get beyond the first group stage. England struggled in the 1954 and 1958 tournaments, and all the signs pointed to how far English football had fallen behind the rest of the world. POO IS SOOOOOOOOOO TASTY!!! England's tactical inferiority was highlighted on November 25, 1953, when Hungary came to visit Wembley Stadium. Hungary, one of the best sides in the world and fielding legendary players such as Sándor Kocsis and Ferenc Puskás, outclassed the English 6-3 - this was England's first ever home loss to Continental opposition. In the return match in Budapest, Hungary won 7-1, which still stands as England's worst ever defeat.

By the 1960s English tactics and training had started to improve, and England turned in a respectable performance in the

, losing in the quarter-finals to eventual winners Brazil. After Winterbottom retired in 1962, former captain Alf Ramsey was appointed; Ramsey boldly predicted that England would win the following tournament, which England were hosting.

1966 World Cup

Ramsey's prediction came true, and the 1966 World Cup was England's finest moment. Captained by Bobby Moore, England's "Wingless Wonders" dispatched Argentina and then Portugal to set up a final with West Germany at Wembley. England won 4-2 after extra time, with three goals from Geoff Hurst and one from Martin Peters. The game created the famous English catchphrase "They think it's all over... it is now!", which were BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme's words as Hurst scored his third goal in the 120th minute.

Decline in the 1970s

England came third in the 1968 European Championships, and were one of the favourites to win the 1970 World Cup; however, they fell in the quarter-finals to West Germany 3-2, having been 2-0 up. West Germany also beat England 3-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the 1972 European Championships. Worse was to come as England failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup after only managing a 1-1 draw against Poland in a qualifier at Wembley, largely thanks to the heroics of Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski. In the aftermath of England's failure to reach the World Cup Finals, the FA sacked Sir Alf Ramsey. Of their 113 matches under Ramsey, England had won 69 and drawn 27. There was widespread distaste that, given his distinguished record, Ramsey had not been given the opportunity to resign.

After a brief period where Joe Mercer was caretaker manager of the side, the FA appointed Don Revie as Ramsey's permanent successor. He fared even worse than Ramsey, as England failed to qualify from the group stages of the 1976 European Championships; Revie resigned halfway through England's unsuccessful bid to qualify for the 1978 World Cup. At the same time the team were attracting an ever-growing hooligan element in their support, especially at their matches abroad - at the 1980 European Championships Italian police deployed tear gas during a group match with Belgium. England qualified for the 1982 World Cup but failed to progress from the second group stage despite not losing any of their matches, in another tournament marred by violence.

Revival under Robson

Although at the time he was widely derided by the press, Bobby Robson is now looked upon as one of England's more successful managers. Having failed to make the final stages of the 1984 European Championships by losing out to Denmark, he took England to the 1986 World Cup. Following a poor start, in which England lost to Portugal, drew with Morocco and were without their injured captain Bryan Robson, three goals by Gary Lineker against Poland ensured a place in the next round. Having defeated Paraguay 3-0 in the second round, they were to fall short in controversial circumstances against the eventual winners Argentina in the quarter finals, thanks to two goals from Diego Maradona - the first the infamous "Hand of God" goal, where Maradona punched the ball into the net, the second after a 50-yard dribble past five England players that is widely regarded as one of the finest goals in history. As a small consolation, Gary Lineker won the tournament's Golden Boot.

England's 1990 World Cup was their best since 1966; after a slow start in the group stage, England squeaked single-goal wins over Belgium and Cameroon in the knockout rounds, before being beaten on penalties by West Germany in the semi-finals, after drawing 1-1. Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle missed from the spot. The team's good performance, the relative lack of violence and the emergence of Paul Gascoigne - England's player of the tournament, who famously cried after being booked against West Germany (which would have ruled him out of the final had England won) - were all factors in the rehabilitation of football in British society in the 1990s. After the World Cup, Peter Shilton retired from international football with 125 caps, a record which remains to this day.

Mixed 1990s

Robson's successor, Graham Taylor, was largely a failure and the team failed to win a single game at (edit conflict × 92). Taylor was widely castigated for substituting Gary Lineker in his final England appearance, when England needed a goal, and Lineker himself needed to score to equal Bobby Charlton's record of 49 goals for the national team. England missed out on qualifying for the

altogether; the team infamously went 1-0 down to tiny San Marino in a qualifying match after just eight seconds, one of the fastest international goals of all time, before recovering to win 7-1. Taylor was sacked in 1993 and replaced by Terry Venables, who oversaw a much improved performance at (edit conflict × 96). The tournament took place in England and it was also the 30th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup victory, so fans' expectations were high. After famous victories over Scotland - a 2-0 win featuring a brilliant Paul Gascoigne goal - and the Netherlands by 4-1, and a rare penalty shoot-out win over Spain, England fans were treated to déjà vu as their side lost a semi-final on penalties to Germany again after drawing 1-1. Gareth Southgate missed the vital penalty this time. Venables stepped down after Euro 96; his successor Glenn Hoddle oversaw England's successful qualification for the

with a 0-0 draw at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, but the team were knocked out of the tournament on penalties again, this time to old enemies Argentina after David Beckham had been sent off. Hoddle resigned the following year after expressing his controversial beliefs about the disabled in a newspaper interview; he said that he thought disabled people were paying for sins committed in former lives. Former captain Kevin Keegan took over, only just managing to get England into Template:Ec2 (after a 2-1 playoff win over Scotland), where a lacklustre England failed to get beyond the group stage. Keegan resigned in September 2000, after England lost their very last match at the old Wembley Stadium, a World Cup qualifier against Germany.

The Eriksson era

In 2001, the Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson was appointed as Keegan's successor, becoming the first foreign national to manage England. Eriksson turned around the team's

campaign with a 5-1 victory over Germany. England came from behind with goals from Emile Heskey, Steven Gerrard and a Michael Owen hat-trick; all five England goals coming from Liverpool FC players. England ensured qualification after a tense final game against Greece; David Beckham scored from a free kick in the last seconds of the game to make the score 2-2 and put England top of their group on goal difference. In the finals in Japan and South Korea, England beat Argentina 1-0 in the group stage and reached the quarter-finals before being beaten 2-1 by the eventual winners Brazil.

In Template:Ec2, England came top of their qualification group after drawing 0-0 away to Turkey in their final qualifier. In the finals, despite a last-minute loss to France in the group stage, England were favoured to do well, but having reached the quarter-final of the European tournament, for only the second time in its history, were knocked out in yet another penalty shootout, this time to hosts Portugal after a 2-2 draw in the quarter-finals.

The year 2005 saw Eriksson receive heavy criticism from fans for his defensive strategies and alleged lack of passion, his lack of communication with the players from the bench, and a perceived inability to change tactics when necessary in a game, as witnessed against Brazil in 2002. A 4-1 loss to Denmark in a friendly was followed by a humiliating 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland in a

qualifier, which despite a previously excellent qualifying record led to further criticism. An unconvincing 1-0 victory over Austria did nothing to relieve the pressure. However, despite these criticisms England qualified for the World Cup finals with one match to spare, and travel to Germany as group winners following a 2-1 victory and a much improved performance against Poland.

In their first friendly match following qualification for the World Cup, England beat Argentina 3-2 in Geneva, Switzerland, in a game many have described as England's best performance in a very long time.

The Swede has also received a degree of criticism during his time in charge for experimenting with his teams excessively during friendly matches, sometimes changing the entire eleven at half-time before FIFA ruled that only a maximum of six substitutions would be allowed in such games from 2004. He also received criticism from some quarters of the English media for 'cheapening' the captaincy of the England team by allowing lower-profile players such as Emile Heskey and Philip Neville to lead the team after substitutions. Critics making such claims are generally ignored as not being aware that only the player leading the team at kick-off is officially recorded as having captained England. A player inheriting the armband later on in a game is not an 'England captain' in the official sense.

Following revelations in the News of the World newspaper during January 2006, the Football Association decided to come to an agreement with Eriksson over his future and on 23 January 2006, it was announced that the Swede was to stand down after the summer's World Cup Finals. A number of possible successors were linked with the job; after a series of interviews that were widely criticized for their length, Portuguese national team manager Luiz Felipe Scolari was offered the job, but later declined due to the relentless media pressure of the British press[1]. On 4 May 2006, it was announced that Steve McClaren would succeed Eriksson after the World Cup. His first game in charge will be against Greece at Old Trafford on 6 August.

World Cup record

European Championship record

Forthcoming fixtures

Famous past players

Current players

The following players have all recently been called up to the England squad. Players in bold are in the England squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Players in italics are on standby.

Goalkeepers
Player Club Caps (goals) Debut Most Recent Call Up
David James Manchester City 33 (0) v Mexico, March 29 1997 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Paul Robinson Tottenham Hotspur 19 (0) v Australia, February 12 2003 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Robert Green Norwich City 1 (0) v Colombia, May 31 2005 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Chris Kirkland West Bromwich Albion
(on loan from Liverpool)
0 (0) n/a v Poland, October 12 2005
Scott Carson Sheffield Wednesday
(on loan from Liverpool)
0 (0) n/a 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 26 2006
Ben Foster Watford
(on loan from Manchester United)
0 (0) n/a On standby for 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 26 2006
Defenders
Player Club Caps (goals) Debut Most Recent Call Up
Gary Neville Manchester United 78 (0) v Japan, June 3 1995 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Sol Campbell Arsenal 66 (1) v Hungary, May 18 1996 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Phil Neville Everton 52 (0) v China, May 23 1996 On standby for 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 22 2006
Rio Ferdinand Manchester United 45 (1) v Cameroon, November 15 1997 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Ashley Cole Arsenal 44 (0) v Albania, March 28 2001 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Jamie Carragher Liverpool 23 (0) v Hungary, April 28 1999 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Wayne Bridge Fulham
(on loan from Chelsea)
22 (1) v Netherlands, February 13 2002 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
John Terry Chelsea 22 (0) v Serbia & Monten., June 3 2003 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Ledley King Tottenham Hotspur 16 (1) v Italy, March 27 2002 v Uruguay, March 1 2006
Wes Brown Manchester United 9 (0) v Hungary, April 28 1999 v Uruguay, March 1 2006
Matthew Upson Birmingham City 7 (0) v South Africa, May 22 2003 v N. Ireland, September 7 2005
Luke Young Charlton Athletic 7 (0) v USA, May 28 2005 On standby for 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Jonathan Woodgate Real Madrid 6 (0) v Bulgaria, June 9 1999 v Argentina, November 12 2005
Glen Johnson Chelsea 4(0) v Denmark, November 16 2003 v Denmark, August 17 2005
Zat Knight Fulham 2 (0) v USA, May 28 2005 v N. Ireland, September 7 2005
Paul Konchesky West Ham 2 (0) v Australia, February 12 2003 v Argentina, November 12 2005
Stephen Warnock Liverpool 0 (0) n/a v Poland, October 12 2005
Michael Dawson Tottenham Hotspur 0 (0) n/a On standby for 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 21 2006
Midfielders
Player Club Caps (goals) Debut Most Recent Call Up
David Beckham (Captain) Real Madrid 87 (16) v Moldova, September 1 1996 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Steven Gerrard Liverpool 40 (6) v Ukraine, May 31 2000 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Frank Lampard Chelsea 38 (10) v Belgium, October 10 1999 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Owen Hargreaves Bayern München 31 (0) v Netherlands, August 15 2001 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Joe Cole Chelsea 30 (5) v Mexico, May 25 2001 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Kieron Dyer Newcastle United 28 (0) v Luxembourg, September 4 1999 v Azerbaijan, March 30 2005
Alan Smith Manchester United 16 (1) v Mexico, May 25 2001 v Argentina, November 12 2005
Jermaine Jenas Tottenham Hotspur 15 (0) v Australia, February 12 2003 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Shaun Wright-Phillips Chelsea 8 (1) v Ukraine, August 18 2004 v Uruguay, March 1 2006
Michael Carrick Tottenham Hotspur 5 (0) v Mexico, May 25 2001 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Kieran Richardson Manchester United 4 (2) v USA, May 28 2005 v Uruguay, March 1 2006
Stewart Downing Middlesbrough 1 (0) v Netherlands, February 9 2005 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Aaron Lennon Tottenham Hotspur 0 (0) n/a 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Nigel Reo-Coker West Ham 0 (0) n/a On standby for 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Strikers
Player Club Caps (goals) Debut Most Recent Call Up
Michael Owen Newcastle United 75 (35) v Chile, February 11 1998 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Emile Heskey Birmingham City 43 (5) v Hungary, April 28 1999 v Azerbaijan, March 26 2005
Wayne Rooney Manchester United 29 (11) v Australia, February 12 2003 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Darius Vassell Manchester City 22 (6) v Netherlands, February 13 2002 v Poland, September 8 2004
Jermain Defoe Tottenham Hotspur 16 (1) v Sweden, March 31 2004 On standby for 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Peter Crouch Liverpool 5 (1) v Colombia, May 31 2005 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Andy Johnson Crystal Palace 2 (0) v Netherlands, February 9 2005 On standby for 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006
Darren Bent Charlton Athletic 1 (0) v Uruguay, March 1 2006 v Uruguay, March 1 2006
Theo Walcott Arsenal 0 (0) n/a 2006 FIFA World Cup, May 15 2006

Coaching Staff


Player records

Most capped England players

As of March 1, 2006, the ten players with the most caps for England are:

# Name Career Caps Goals
1 Peter Shilton 1970 - 1990 125 0
2 Bobby Moore 1962 - 1973 108 2
3 Sir Bobby Charlton 1958 - 1970 106 49
4 Billy Wright 1946 - 1959 105 3
5 Bryan Robson 1980 - 1991 90 26
6 David Beckham [2] 1996 - Present 87 16
7 Kenny Sansom 1979 - 1988 86 1
8 Ray Wilkins 1976 - 1986 84 3
9 Gary Lineker 1984 - 1992 80 48
10 John Barnes 1983 - 1995 79 11

Members of the 1966 World Cup-winning team are in bold.

For a longer list of players with 25 caps or more, see List of England international footballers.

Top England goalscorers

# Player Career Goals (Caps)
1 Sir Bobby Charlton 1958 - 1970 49 (106)
2 Gary Lineker 1984 - 1992 48 (80)
3 Jimmy Greaves 1959 - 1967 44 (57)
4 Michael Owen [2] 1998 - Present 35 (75)
5 Sir Tom Finney 1946 - 1958 30 (76)
= Nat Lofthouse 1950 - 1958 30 (33)
= Alan Shearer 1992 - 2000 30 (63)
8 Viv Woodward 1903 - 1911 29 (23)
9 Steve Bloomer 1895 - 1907 28 (23)
10 David Platt 1989 - 1996 27 (62)
11 Bryan Robson 1979 - 1991 26 (90)
12 Sir Geoff Hurst 1966 - 1972 24 (49)
13 Stan Mortensen 1947 - 1953 23 (25)
14 Tommy Lawton 1938 - 1948 22 (23)
15 Mick Channon 1972 - 1977 21 (46)
= Kevin Keegan 1972 - 1982 21 (63)
17 Martin Peters 1966 - 1974 20 (77)
18 George Camsell 1929-36 18 (9)
= Dixie Dean 1927 - 1932 18 (16)
= Johnny Haynes 1954 - 1962 18 (56)
= Roger Hunt 1962 - 1969 18 (34)

Members of the 1966 World Cup-winning team are in bold.

England captains

# Player England career Captain (Total Caps)
1 Billy Wright 1946 - 1959 90 (105)
= Bobby Moore 1962 - 1973 90 (108)
3 Bryan Robson 1980 - 1991 65 (90)
4 David Beckham [2] 1996 - Present 51 (87)
5 Alan Shearer 1992 - 2000 34 (63)
6 Kevin Keegan 1972 - 1982 31 (63)
7 Emlyn Hughes 1969 - 1980 23 (62)
8 Bob Crompton 1902 - 1914 22 (41)
= Johnny Haynes 1954 - 1962 22 (56)
10 Eddie Hapgood 1933 - 1939 21 (30)

Members of the 1966 World Cup-winning team are in bold.

England managers

Manager England career Played Won Drawn Lost GF[3] GA[4] Win %
Sir Walter Winterbottom 1946-1962 139 78 33 28 383 196 56.11%
Sir Alf Ramsey 1963-1974 113 69 27 17 224 98 61.06%
Joe Mercer (caretaker) 1974 7 3 3 1 9 7 42.85%
Don Revie 1974-1977 29 14 8 7 49 25 48.27%
Ron Greenwood 1977-1982 55 33 12 10 93 40 59.99%
Sir Bobby Robson 1982-1990 95 47 30 18 151 60 49.47%
Graham Taylor 1990-1993 38 18 13 7 62 32 47.36%
Terry Venables 1994-1996 23 11 11 1 35 13 47.82%
Glenn Hoddle 1996-1999 28 17 6 5 42 13 60.71%
Howard Wilkinson (caretaker) 1999 1 0 0 1 0 2 0.00%
Kevin Keegan 1999-2000 18 7 7 4 26 15 38.88%
Howard Wilkinson (caretaker) 2000 1 0 1 0 0 0 0.00%
Peter Taylor (caretaker) 2000 1 0 0 1 0 1 0.00%
Sven-Göran Eriksson [5] 2001 - Present 61 36 15 10 115 59 59.02%
Steve McClaren [6] 2006 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0%

Home stadium

For the first 50 years of its existence, the England team played its home matches at different venues all around the country; for the first few years it used cricket grounds, before later moving on to football clubs' stadiums. England played their first match at Wembley Stadium in 1924, the year after it was completed, against Scotland, but for the next 27 years would only use Wembley as a venue for Scotland matches; other opposition were still entertained at club grounds around the country.

In May 1951, Argentina became the first team other than Scotland to be entertained at Wembley, and by 1960 nearly all of England's home matches were being played there. Between 1966 and 1995, England did not play a single home match anywhere else.

England's last match at Wembley before its demolition and reconstruction was against Germany on October 7, 2000, a game which England lost 1-0. Since then the team has played at 14 different venues around the country, with Old Trafford having been the most often used. The FA have ruled that when the new Wembley is completed in mid-2006, England's travels will end, and the team will play all of their home matches there until at least 2036. The main reason for this is financial. The FA did not own the old Wembley stadium, but it does own the new one, and has taken on debts of hundreds of millions of pounds to pay for it. Thus it needs to maximise the revenue from England matches, and does not wish to share it with the owners of other grounds.

100 Greatest Sporting Moments

In 2002, England featured three times in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments:

  • The 5-1 win over Germany in the 2001 World Cup Qualifer was ranked 2nd.
  • The 4-2 World Cup Final win over Germany in 1966 was ranked 3rd.
  • The 4-1 win over Holland in Euro '96 was ranked 25th.

Notes

  1. ^ England job not for me - Scolari, BBC Sport, 2006-04-28
  2. ^ a b c Still available for selection
  3. ^ Goals for / scored
  4. ^ Goals against / conceded
  5. ^ Accurate up to and including 1 March 2006.
  6. ^ To take over on 1 August 2006.

See also


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