Connections - England 7

International football is back and England have a new manager. We take another look at some of the connections between Spurs and the national side.  This time around we discover the one goal wonders. How many of the eleven can you come up with? 

There is also some penalty shootouts and the B team.

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With the World Cup starting we complete our review of the national side taking part in penalty shootout’s and reveal the Tottenham players involved including the goalie.  There is also a quick look at the England ‘B’ team.

Starting with those One-goal wonders for England.  To the end of this summer’s European Championships eleven Tottenham players have netted once for England out of a total of 135. Amazing enough of the last ten players to do so, five have been Spurs men. That includes the last three to join the list.  

The first of these was Jimmy Seed V Belgium in 1923, he was followed by George Hunt (on debut) ten years later V Scotland. 1951 saw both Bill Nicholson (V Portugal) and Les Medley V France) achieve it. Alan Mullery was next in the 1970 World Cup V West Germany in Mexico. Gary Mabbutt managed it against Yugoslavia in 1986.  He was followed by Jermaine Jenas (2008) V Israel, Ledley King V Mexico (2010) and Stephen Caulker (below) V Sweden in 2012.

 The other two are both current players,  Deli Ali who was the second man to do it against France and against his own club’s goalie and Eric Dier against Germany.
(note this was written for the start of the Euros but technical problems delayed its release - since then Eric has of course scored a second time V Russia) at the Euros.


In addition to the that list Ronnie Dix did it for Derby in his only international in 1938 before joining Spurs shortly after. Other players who scored their goal before joining Spurs are Paul Walsh while he was at Luton, 1983.  Jamie Redknapp (below right),1999 and Danny Murphy, 2002, did it while at Liverpool.

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Keith Weller scored his only goal after he left Spurs as did Sol Campbell. Coaching staff member Ugo Ehiogu also did it as a substitute (Middlesbourgh ) in 2001.
 
The England B team has had a checkered history and once again details tend to be a little hazy but the earliest ‘B’ international I could find was in May 1947, with no Spurs involvement. That arrived in the second game a year later when Alf Ramsey and Bill Nicholson were involved as England won 5-1 in Switzerland.

Ted Ditchburn played at this level in 1949 away to Holland. January 1950 and the first home B international saw Ditchburn, Nicholson and Eddie Baily all involved as they beat Switzerland 5-0 in Sheffield with Eddie Baily scoring the second goal.

Nicholson and Baily also played in games in Italy and Holland that summer, just days after winning the Second Division championship and before going to the World Cup in Brazil. The following season saw Tommy Harmer and a pre-spur Bobby Smith play against the GB Olympic side.

George Robb who played for that GB Olympic team against England B then played for the England B team three times in the 1953/54 season.  Other Tottenham, current or future players that featured also include Vic Groves, Tony Marchi and Alf Stokes before there was a twenty year lapse in games from 1957 onwards.

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When they reassumed Glenn Hoddle was selected for a game in Austria which was abandoned when the floodlights failed. He did play (and score) again the following year V New Zealand.  The next generation of Tottenham (current and future) men to play for the B side includes, Graham Roberts, Gary Lineker, Gary Mabbutt and Steve Hodge, the last two both scoring goals. Other scorers in non Spurs days include Paul Gascoigne, John Scales, Paul Stewart and Les Ferdinand.

Other players with Spurs links who have won caps at this level include Andy Sinton, Chris Armstrong, Tim Sherwood, Ugo Ehiogu, Neil Raddock, Sol Campbell, Jamie Redknapp,  Nick Barmby,   Ruel Fox, Ian Walker, Darren Anderson, Michael Carrick,  Aaron Lennon and Peter Crouch.

The last B international was played in 2007 and featured Ledley King, Michael Dawson, Jermaine Jenas, Aaron Lennon and Blackburn’s David Bentley, who was replaced by Jermaine Defoe as they beat Albania 3-1. Both Terry Venables and Peter Taylor had spells in charge of the B team.

In the last Connections we looked at the penalty shootouts that the national side completed in during a European Championship’s. With the next World Cup starting its long winding passage over the next two years this time we turn to the ones in that competition. There have been three. The first came in 1990 in Italy against West Germany.



Tottenham’s Gary Lineker opened the scoring. Then with England trailing 3-4 Chris Waddle stepped forward having to score to keep England alive and he blasted the ball over the bar and England lost. One side step, Paul Gascoigne was due to take a penalty but was so upset at the final whistle after being booked and knowing he would miss the final he was removed from the first five kickers.

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The 1998 tournament saw a shootout with Argentina in the Second Round England again lost 3-4 without a Tottenham man being involved.

The third time was in Germany 2006. After a 0-0 draw with Portugal the game went to a shootout. Portugal had beaten England in a shootout at the Euros just two years earlier. In the England goal was Paul Robinson, (above left).  He had only faced one penalty in internationals, and he had saved it. After three rounds it was still 1-1, Robinson having saved one and one hit the post. Postiga gave the Portuguese a 2-1 lead, having also scored two years earlier. England missed the third kick in four and Portugal scored to win 3-1.

To date England have competed in eight shootouts and won just one.

So as the national team set out on their first game under a new caretaker manager Gareth Southgate who is a Spurs supporter. Other links with England managers were covered in part 3.
You can find the complete Connections to England and other countries @
http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/hotspur-towers-the-international-index

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Keith Harrison.
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