England 1K: Pele, Euro 96, huge goals - and Dier's penalty

England celebrate their 1,000th men’s senior international with a Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro at Wembley this evening (Thursday 14 November).

It all started against Scotland back in 1872 and ever since the great Vivian Woodward first pulled on the Three Lions shirt as a Spurs player back in 1903, we've been represented by 77 players earning approaching 1,000 caps.

Our players have certainly made their mark as well on the world stage - just think of Gazza and Gary Lineker at the 1990 World Cup, Darren Anderton and Teddy Sheringham at Euro 96 and more recently, the contribution of our five players at the 2018 World Cup, when captain Harry Kane won the Golden Boot on the way to the semi-finals.

To mark the 1,000-game milestone, we've spoken to generations of our England players and asked for their favourite moments for the national team.

Alan Mullery

- 35 caps - 1964-1971
- England captain v Malta, 1971
- 373 appearances for Spurs, 1964-1972
- Captain 1968-1972, won FA Cup 1967, League Cup 1971, UEFA Cup 1972

Alan played in England's famous group match against Pele's eventual-champions Brazil in Mexico in 1970 - a match that included Gordon Banks' 'save of the century' to deny Pele's header, Brazil won 1-0 - and then scored as England led 2-0 against West Germany in the quarter-final, only to lose 3-2.

Alan: "The one thing you wanted to do was represent England, play at the World Cup and to do that was something special for this snotty-nosed kid who lived in Notting Hill all those years ago. Just thinking now, I could talk for ages about the football played in the 1970 World Cup. The game against Brazil, it just sticks in the minds of people of a certain age. In fact, even younger people come up to me and say, ‘what was it like marking Pele?’ - they weren’t even born then! That Brazil side had 11 individuals, each and every one of them an outstanding player, so many names - Jairzinho, Carlos Alberto, Gerson, Pele – and what a fantastic team.

"I remember watching Brazil win the World Cup in Sweden in 1958, Pele was 17, I was two years younger than him and I thought then, at 15, ‘I’d love to play in a game like that’. Many years later, it worked out - and I played against him. I saw Pele a couple of years ago at a function in London. He gave me a big hug. He lifted up the leg of his trousers and said ‘I’ve still got the scars!'. He said to me that the only team that Brazil feared in Mexico was England. We actually went to Brazil in 1969, the year before the World Cup, and we were narrowly beaten 2-1 at the Maracana. We deserved a draw - they knew how good we were.

"As for West Germany, even now, it’s the subject most people ask me about. If I’m driving along, sometimes I’ll think back to it. Of course I’ll never forget scoring - my one and only goal for England! We played so well for an hour but then Peter Bonetti let Franz Beckenbauer’s shot underneath him (for 2-1), he was much better than that and he gets blamed for England losing, but that’s unfair. At that stage, if we’d held on for another 10 minutes, we’d have won."

England 0-1 Brazil, World Cup, Mexico, 7/6/1970 - Banks, Wright, Cooper, Mullery, Labone, Moore, Lee (Astle), Ball, Charlton (Bell), Hurst, Peters.

England 2-3 West Germany, World Cup, Mexico, 14/6/1970 - Bonetti, Newton, Cooper, Mullery, Labone, Moore, Lee, Ball, Charlton (Bell), Hurst, Peters (Hunter).

Gary Mabbutt

- 16 caps, 1982-1992
- 611 appearances for Spurs, 1982-1998
- Captain 1988-1998, won UEFA Cup 1984, FA Cup 1991
- Second all-time appearance-maker at Spurs

It was a whirlwind for 'Mabbsy', who joined us from Bristol Rovers in July, 1982, and by October, had made his debut at Wembley in the Charity Shield, scored on his league debut and then won his first England cap against West Germany. Capped over a 10-year span, he scored his one and only England goal against Yugoslavia in 1986.

Gary: "Walking out of the tunnel at Wembley, 100,000 fans in there, for my first cap against West Germany, who had just played in the World Cup Final, that was special. You wear the Three Lions on your shirt, sing the national anthem and it's that feeling that you are, at that moment, one of the best 11 players in the country. I later scored against Yugoslavia in a European Championship qualifying game at Wembley, a header from a Glenn Hoddle corner. Chris Waddle and Gary Lineker were also in the team. That was my first goal, and very nice to score for my country."

England 1-2 West Germany, friendly, Wembley, 13/10/1982 - Shilton, Mabbutt, Sansom, Thompson, Butcher, Wilkins, Hill, Regis (Woodcock), Mariner (Rix), Armstrong (Blissett), Devonshire.

England 2-0 Yugoslavia, Euro 88 qualifier, Wembley, 12/11/1986 - Woods, Anderson, Sansom, Hoddle, Wright, Butcher, Mabbutt, Hodge (Wilkins), Beardsley, Lineker, Waddle (Steven).

Darren Anderton

- 30 caps, 1994-2001
- 357 appearances for Spurs, 1992-2004
- Won League Cup in 1999
- Record appearances in Premier League for Spurs, 299

Darren played in one of the most complete England performances of the modern era, the 4-1 victory against Holland in Euro 96, and later hit the post in the semi-final against Germany. He scored four goals, including a strike against Colombia in the 1998 World Cup Finals.

Darren: "For me, it has to be Euro 96, the whole tournament. The fact the next tournament will also be played at home (Euro 2020 is being played across Europe, including Wembley) brings back some nice memories. Certainly, beating Holland 4-1 was unbelievable and for myself, scoring in the 1998 World Cup was something special as well. I’d have to go for the Holland game over Scotland in Euro 96. That was the complete performance and a performance that we were able to enjoy - at Wembley, 4-0 up (after 62 minutes), 90,000 fans all singing ‘football’s coming home’ - it just doesn’t get better than that. It was the whole experience though, like travelling to the games along the M40 with fans lining the streets, like we were pop stars! It was madness! From Gazza’s goal against Scotland to the performance against Holland, those are the moments that stick out."

England 4-1 Holland, Euro 96, Wembley, 18/6/1996 - Seaman, Neville, Pearce, Ince (Platt), Adams, Southgate, McManaman, Gascoigne, Shearer (Fowler), Sheringham (Barmby), Anderton.

Jermain Defoe

- 57 caps, 49 with Spurs, 2004-2017
- 49 caps is the most England caps earned by a Spurs player
- 363 appearances for Spurs, 2004-2014
- 143 goals for Spurs, our sixth all-time top goalscorer

Still banging in the goals for Glasgow Rangers in Scotland - where's he's top scorer in the SPL at the moment - 'JD', now 37, earned his 57 caps over 13 years, his last cap in Harry Kane's first game as England captain against Scotland in June, 2017. He was selected for the 2010 World Cup and delivered a vital winner in the group stage against Slovenia.

Jermain: "It has to be my goal in the World Cup against Slovenia and you know why? It was such an important game. I was thinking at the time 'I don't want to go home yet'. There was pressure and you always want to be the hero, don't you? You want to be the person people can rely on. I didn't feel nervous, just so excited. I knew I was going to score. It's hard to describe what it's like to score in the World Cup. When I was younger, I just wanted to score goals in the Premier League, but the pinnacle for me was to play for my country. Above that, it's a major tournament. I remember watching World Cups with my family as a kid, just a young boy in east London and then years later, I scored in the World Cup. That is what dreams are made of."

England 1-0 Slovenia, World Cup 2010, South Africa, 23/6/2010 - James, Johnson, Cole, Gerrard, Upson, Terry, Milner, Lampard, Defoe (Heskey), Rooney (Cole), Barry.

Eric Dier

- 40 caps, 2015-present day
- Captained England four times, including at 2018 World Cup
- Scored in first major finals, Euro 2016, aged just 22
- Up to 216 appearances for Spurs, 2014-present day

There's only one place to go for Eric's highlight in an England shirt - the evening the nation held it's breath as our player stepped up to take a penalty that could clinch a first penalty shoot-out in the World Cup at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow, Russia. England drew 1-1 with Colombia (including Davinson Sanchez) and the last 16 tie went to the dreaded shoot-out. Eric's Spurs team-mates Harry Kane and Kieran Trippier scored, now it was his turn - with the chance win it. Of course, it was never in doubt. Forget Italia 90, France 98 and Germany 06 - England were heading for the quarter-finals...

Eric: "It is that penalty and it's just about the moment, what it meant in so many ways - England's shoot-out history, the World Cup, first game of the knockout stage. I grew up in Portugal and got a lot of stick - twice - after penalty shoot-outs (Portugal beat England on penalties at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup) and it was such a special moment for all those reasons. It's something you dream of. I knew what I was going to do. I was prepared. I'd practised a lot and felt I was in a good space for it. I was very confident I was going to score at the time.

"You don't realise the affect it has when you actually do it. After, you do. There are some videos around that penalty that I just love, not the penalty itself, but the reaction to it and us winning the shoot-out. The singer Loyle Carner has a skit on one of his songs, and I'm pretty sure it's of my penalty. It's really funny. All you can hear is the voices of people talking, on the sofa, watching the game and you can hear this girl say to someone 'is he any good?' and a guy replies 'he's alright', and then I score. That makes me laugh."

England 1-1 Colombia (4-3 on penalties), World Cup 2018, Russia, 3/7/2018 - Pickford, Trippier, Young (Rose), Walker (Rashford), Stones, Maguire, Lingard, Henderson, Kane, Sterling (Vardy), Dele (Dier).