Continuing the look at footballers to have played 100 ormore times for England, here we focus on the international careers of BobbyMoore, Ashley Cole and Bobby Charlton.
RobertFrederick Chelsea Moore OBE (‘Chelsea’ was a family name) willforever be synonymous as being the onlyEngland captain to lift the World Cup after they had beaten West Germany 4-2after extra time in 1966. The images of him wiping his muddy and sweaty handsprior to shaking the hand of Queen Elizabeth II were testament to his virtues,his abilities on the pitch triggered tributes from perhaps the greatest of themall, as Pele believed he was the greatest defender he ever played against.
Besides 108 caps for England, he equaled Billy Wright’srecord of 90 appearances as captain. Domestically, Moore played more than 600times during a career mainly with West Ham, where he was captain for over 10years and lifted the FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup, and later withFulham. He was also named Player of the Year in 1964 and was the firstfootballer to be named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1966.
Moore played in three World Cup finals. His firstexperience was in Chile in 1962 where England ultimately lost to Brazil in thequarter finals. The year after he became the youngest ever England captain atjust 22 and was made the permanent captain in 1964 by coach Alf Ramsey. Duringthe 1966 final, his quick thinking set up two goals for Hurst in the finalitself.
Mexico 1970 was a less successful experience, as prior to thetournament he was accused of stealing a bracelet in Bogota, Columbia (the casewas unsubstantiated and dropped) and England were eliminated in the quarterfinals by West Germany.
Cancer claimed his life in 1993 at only 51, but hislegacy lives on through his memorial fund which has raised over £18 million (by2013).
His ‘image’ lives on through the statue in his memory outside WembleyStadium.
AshleyColehas played for England 107 times and is probably the best left back they haveever produced. Now playing for Roma, his reputation was established by winningleague titles with Arsenal, where he was part of “The Invincibles” that wentunbeaten through the Premier League campaign of 2003-4 and was a losingfinalist in the 2006 Champions League final.
He joined Chelsea where he pickedup a further league title and a Champions League winners’ medal in 2012,scoring in the penalty shoot out against Bayern Munich. He holds the record formost FA Cup winners’ medals at seven and has been part of the ‘Double’ (winningthe league and FA Cup in the same season) with two different clubs.
Internationally, he made his debut in 2001 againstAlbania and has represented England at the finals of three World Cups (2002,2006 and 2010) and two Euro Champs (2004and 2012), but never advanced beyond the quarter final stages. He also holdsthe dubious record of most games for England as an outfield player withoutscoring a goal! He retired from international Football after beingsurprisingly omitted from the 2014 World Cup finals.
Besides his footballing prowess, he is also commonlyassociated with the era of the celebrity WAGS (wives and girlfriends) throughhis past marriage to Cheryl of (pop group) Girls Aloud and (TV talent show) XFactor fame.
Sir BobbyCharlton is the all time record goalscorer for England with 49goals from 106 caps, just one goal ahead of Gary Lineker.
Renowned for his ferocious shooting, he was a devotedManchester United player during his playing career, and one of the fortunate survivorsof the Munich air crash in the era of the ‘Busby Babes’ under the tutelage ofthe great (Sir) Matt Busby. As captain, he scored twice in the 1968 EuropeanCup final as United became the first English club to lift the trophy.
His 758appearances for the Red Devils was the club record until Ryan Giggs overtookhim, although he finished his domestic career playing for Preston North End andthen Waterford United. He still holds the club record of 249 goals though. Hislong time association with the Manchester club was cemented when he joined theboard of directors in 1984, which he still retains to this day.
Charlton’s Englanddebut was in 1958 (shortly after the Munich disaster) when he scored in a fournil win over Scotland at Hampden Park. His international career included fourWorld Cup finals in 1958 (although he didn’t play), 1962, 1970 and famously in1966, when he played alongside his elder brother Jackie in England’s winningteam. He scored twice in the 1966 semi final against Eusebio’s Portugal. Afurther reward for that 1966 season was his winning of the Ballon d’Or as theEuropean footballer of the year.