Gary LINEKER

A goal scoring great on a par with any international striker the world has seen, and he's English. Gary Lineker, the quiet market boy from Leicester who became the world's most feared striker, had an inauspicious start to his England career when, as a player still with a yo-yo Leicester team, he was brought in by Bobby Robson for the last ever Home International tie, coming on as a sub for Tony Woodcock as England drew 1-1 with Scotland at Hampden.

Lineker didn't subsequently warrant a place on the tour of South America which made stars of John Barnes and Mark Hateley, and it was ten months later that Robson selected him in the team again, with his prolific Leicester form also catching the eye of bigger clubs in England. Lineker duly scored the clincher in a 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland at Wembley and this time stuck around in the squad, not to be dropped again. Robson was in deep assessment of his striking options for the forthcoming World Cup finals in Mexico, with the likes of Trevor Francis, Paul Mariner and Woodcock dispensable after distinguished careers to accommodate the younger guns in Lineker, Hateley, Kerry Dixon and Peter Beardsley. Gary came on as a sub in two of the tour games in Mexico in the summer of 1985 and then hit two as England thumped the USA 5-0 in Los Angeles.

By the time the remaining trio of World Cup qualifiers came round at the end of the year, he was an Everton player who couldn't stop scoring, and consequently a shoo-in as Robson's first choice goal getter for his country. Lineker hit his first of an astonishing five England hat-tricks as Turkey were brushed aside 5-0 at Wembley but then went through a slightly barren spell during England's preparation period in early 1986, prior to the flight to Mexico. There was little doubt that Lineker was still prime striker due to his phenomenal Everton form - 38 goals in his first season - but Robson had more of an issue of which partner would get the best from him. Hateley, Dixon and Beardsley were all tried and Hateley's own successes in front of goal as the tournament loomed got him the nod as England acclimatised in Monterrey, ready for their group opener against Portugal. (Matthew Rudd)

Gary Lineker, in a plaster cast thanks to a wrist injury, barely got a kick as an inept England lost 1-0 to Portugal in England's World Cup opener and he was equally starved of service in the next match against Morocco after Robson decided to withdraw Hateley in favour of shoring up the midfield for a point once Ray Wilkins had been sent off. The pressure was on the England coach to make changes, while the form of Lineker was worrying many a critic, who wondered whether he was just another ace club goalscorer who couldn't cut it on the international stage. Others questioned his fitness after an almost ever-present season with Everton, which had included an FA Cup run all the way to the final, while some just wondered whether he was in too much pain from his wrist injury.

Robson kept the faith with Lineker but chose a different method of creativity by installing Beardsley as his link man. A beautiful partnership was born as Poland (the photo above shows a determined Gary battling for possession during the game - photo Joe Mann © G.H.) were destroyed in Mexico City by Lineker's impeccable touch for goal, and his second England hat-trick would prove to be the most important of his five. The first goal came after Gary set up his own counter attack, using the width provided by Everton team-mates Trevor Steven and Gary Stevens before sliding home the latter's pinpoint low centre. The second was a stunning goal - Beardsley dropped deep to play a waspish pass now of England legend to the dashing Steve Hodge on the flank, and again the first time centre was right into Lineker's stride and he steered the bouncing ball into the roof of the net.

The third saw a fumble by the Polish keeper from an England corner and Lineker chested it down and fired a left foot drive into the top of the goal. The job was done, the campaign was underway and Gary had scored England's first World Cup finals hat-trick since Geoff Hurst twenty years previously. (Matthew Rudd)

Paraguay awaited England in the second round and Lineker was again to the fore, picking himself up from one vicious elbowing to stretch England ahead from close range after a late-arriving Hodge had steered Glenn Hoddle's overhit cross back into the danger zone. Beardsley then got the second - the only other England scorer in Mexico - before Hoddle sent Tottenham's Gary Stevens - on as a sub - clear down the inside right channel and Lineker had a simple finish from the cross which was nonetheless typical of the deadliness in front of goal he was starting to show.

The world had noticed a highly special goal scoring gift in the England ranks and certainly he would need to put away any chance he got in the quarter-finals as Argentina loomed, with Diego Maradona single-handedly destroying every defence he had faced thus far. Lineker was impish and alert as England attacked with gusto but caution in the first half, but little was coming his way in terms of real chances by the time Maradona had put Argentina 2-0 up early in the second half in infamously illegal and famously brilliant manners respectively. Robson detected that the strength of Argentina's holding midfield was stifling England's creativity so he threw on John Barnes, with an order to the likes of Hoddle and Beardsley to feed the Watford winger, while Barnes himself was simply told to beat the full back and rain in the crosses.

Barnes and Lineker subsequently nearly rescued England entirely alone - Barnes destroyed Argentina time and again, finally seeing an end product to his awesome runs when his chipped, arching centre found Lineker's forehead to make it 2-1 with seven minutes left (see photo above, Gary with fists clenched, wheeling away in celebration - photo Joe Mann. © G.H.). At the death, Barnes got through the weary Argentines again to get another ball to the far post, but somehow Lineker was beaten to the ball by some of the most desperate and heroic defending seen. Gary ended up in the net without the ball, and England were heading home, beaten by a cheat but showing pride, hope for the future and boasting the Golden Boot winner, who was immediately taken to Barcelona by Terry Venables for almost three million pounds. (Matthew Rudd)

Gary Lineker settled into Spanish life to the extent that he was congratulated rather than pilloried by the Spanish press after smacking home all England's goals in a 4-2 friendly win at the beginning of 1987, completing his third England hat-trick in the process. Barcelona fans could cope with Lineker's prowess as it was at the home of their deadly rivals Real Madrid. Lineker had already put away a brace in the opening qualifier for the 1988 European Championships as England beat Northern Ireland 3-0 at Wembley, and later scored a stunning diving header from debutant Stuart Pearce's cross as England drew 1-1 with Brazil in the 1987 Rous Cup. His 14th England goal came in a 3-1 friendly defeat in West Germany (see photo above) prior to his third hat-trick in the national shirt as England thrashed Turkey 8-0 in a European Championship qualifier.

England's place in the finals in Germany was soon secured and Lineker scored three times in the warm-up matches of early 1988, meaning he had struck 20 goals in 32 internationals by the time England set off for Germany. The tournament, however, turned out to be an unqualified disaster. The form players of the club season didn't have the fitness or heart to turn it on again, and Lineker looked particularly dishevelled in the opening group match in Stuttgart against the Republic of Ireland. England lost 1-0 and needed to beat Holland in Dusseldorf to have a realistic chance of progressing. Gary hit the post from a tight angle in the first half before Marco van Basten gave Holland the lead. Bryan Robson equalised early in the second half after a neat one-two with Lineker, but still England couldn't get into gear, and their tournament hopes were ended by van Basten's hat-trick and a 3-1 defeat. Gary was substituted by Mark Hateley in the pride-only third game against the Soviet Union in Frankfurt, and only after the tournament was it discovered that he was suffering from hepatitis.

Lineker spent the summer on medication and returned to the England fold for the opening qualifier for the 1990 World Cup against a tough Sweden side at Wembley. Glenn Hysen masterfully marked Gary out of the game as the Swedes earned a 0-0 draw and Lineker had to wait another six months for his next England goal in a 5-0 win over group whipping boys Albania at Wembley. He then steered in a tight-angled shot against Poland at Wembley - a carbon copy of the chance which hit the post against Holland - to take England to a 3-0 win in June 1989 and make their qualification for the finals in Italy more likely, though trips back to Poland and Sweden still beckoned. Lineker left Barcelona for Tottenham that summer and scored the only goal in a friendly win in Denmark prior to the two big away days, and England ground out goalless draws at both to seal their place in the finals. As 1990 got underway, Lineker scored the only goal in a Wembley win over Brazil and then hit his 25th in another 1-0 win over Denmark. Just before jetting out for Italy, England gave Gary Lineker his 50th England cap and the nation hoped that for a second World Cup in a row, his goalscoring would be at the forefront of a serious campaign to win the competition. (Matthew Rudd)