England National Team

He played for Irish youth teams up through the U21s before switching to England.

It also reflects the (pointless) expansion of the international football calendar, obviously.

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gordonā€™s a disgrace. Book him.

Why Szmodics hit him with a cheap late shot in the back

Sheer principle.

And also he went down as if heā€™d been shot , looking for the card.

And it was a deserved card

Pope is definitely a better keeper. I think his injuries came at an inopportune time.

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Better keeper but poor with the ball at his feet

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I think England are playing far better in this but the forwards are rather indifferent. Saka isnā€™t getting much, Kane is wasteful, and I am still to be convinced of the worth of Gordon.

Second half hasnt been very good. Like a bunch of players who are aware this isnt important and after a decent first half wishing they could just all just move on to the next game and get back to their clubs

Oohhh, Trenty :see_no_evil:

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Kane is due to win his 100th cap against Finland. It surprised me how few others before have achieved that as he will be only the 10th. I dont think any are particularly hard to guess, but any takers on who the previous 9 are?

Uh-ohā€¦he wants to continue after being ā€œinspired by Ronaldoā€

Letā€™s see, goalkeepers Seaman and Shilton
Forwards Rooney
Midfielders Stevie G Beckham Lampard
Defenders A Cole B Moore

Canā€™t think of the rest

When it came up in pub quizzes, it was always Bobby Charlton, Billy Wright and Bobby Moore, and I think the most was Peter Shilton.

At a guess, Iā€™d say that Stevie Gerrard and Wayne Rooney would be up there. Probably Beckham. Maybe Lampard. Another keeper? David Seaman?

These records tend to have recency bias because there are a lot more internationals, often against joke competition. I think Kane is now top scorer but you canā€™t compare that with Charlton or even Lineker.

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Ugh! Missed out with Charlton and Billy Wright.

Totally agree on the recency bias and stats padding with meaningless matches. I mean think what the likes of Lineker and Shearer would do in this day and age.

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Yeah, these are the ones people might miss as the only ones not of the modern era. Between you and @koptician you have got all the rest, but both incorrectly included Seaman who only got to 75

The interesting thing about the so called recency bias is other than Shilts, the older guys didnt have meaningfully longer international careers. Charlton did his 106 in 12 years and Cole his 107 in 13. Moore his 108 caps in 11 years and Gerrard his 114 in 14.

What this looks like then is an issue of consistency of selection, with the more modern guys having a lot more games they can miss and still accumulate caps.

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Youā€™re forgetting Jay Bothroyd.

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Whenever the ball goea in the box Kane is like a statue

Love the overwhelming reaction to Sir Harry scoring on his hundredth appearance.

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Another sublime pass from Trent

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