Former England and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard announced his retirement from international football on this day in 2014.
Gerrard was one of the best midfielders of his generation, making 114 appearances for England, which places him fourth on the men’s all-time list.
But while he regularly tops fan polls as Liverpool’s greatest player, Gerrard rarely hit the same heights for England during his 14-year international career.
His decision came after England’s dismal showing in the 2014 World Cup, where Roy Hodgson’s side crashed out at the group stage after defeats to Italy and Uruguay and a 0-0 draw against Costa Rica.
Gerrard was handed his debut by Kevin Keegan aged 20 in a 2-0 win over Ukraine at Wembley in 2000 and was named in the squad for the European Championship later that summer, coming on against Germany in the group stage.
It was against the Germans that he bagged his first goal the following year, a memorable strike in a famous 5-1 World Cup qualifying win which, along with two strikes at the 2006 World Cup, made for arguably his best moments in an England shirt.
He would have had a place in history as the only Englishman to play in four World Cups had injury not kept him out of the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea.
WHAT. A. HIT
Steven Gerrard opens his account in style!
— England (@England)
On a personal level he enjoyed a fine England career, captaining his country 38 times and scoring 21 goals.
But the disappointing 2010 and 2014 World Cup campaigns – England exited the latter in Brazil bottom of their group and without a win – were tough for Gerrard to take and, like the rest of the ‘Golden Generation’, he retired without a major international honour.
He went on to play another season for Liverpool in 2014-15, becoming the third player to make 500 or more Premier League appearances for one club after Ryan Giggs and former team-mate Jamie Carragher.
He joined LA Galaxy in 2015 and made 19 appearances for the Major League Soccer club before announcing his retirement as a player in November 2016, aged 36.
