Gary Lineker has achieved many issues throughout his life in soccer – earlier than turning into a profitable tv presenter, he was an England hero at two World Cups.
Lineker is stepping down as host of Match of the Day subsequent month after 26 years , and spoke to FourFourTwo journal to mark the second.
On tv, he discovered from mentor Des Lynam, earlier than succeeding the legend after Lynam moved to ITV in 1999.
Gary Lineker’s Italia 90 agony
Gary Lineker (Picture credit score: Alamy)
Earlier than that, Lineker was one of many world’s best strikers, netting greater than 300 objectives for membership and nation throughout a stellar profession.
After making his identify at boyhood membership Leicester Metropolis, Lineker moved to Everton in 1985, earlier than successful the golden boot on the 1986 World Cup, scoring six instances to assist England get better from a poor begin and attain the quarter-finals.
Gary Lineker (Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
After transferring to Barcelona after which Tottenham Hotspur, Lineker lined up for the Three Lions as soon as extra on the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
He discovered the online simply 9 minutes into England’s opening recreation of the match towards the Republic of Eire, then transformed two penalties as Bobby Robson’s aspect defeated Cameroon within the quarter-finals.
It put the nationwide group into the semi-finals of a World Cup for the primary time since 1966, and Lineker then bagged the equaliser towards West Germany to take the last-four conflict to a penalty shoot-out.
The ahead scored his spot-kick, however Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle each missed as England suffered an agonising defeat, permitting the Germans to progress to the ultimate, the place they beat Argentina.
Lineker celebrates scoring (Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
Lineker’s tally of 10 World Cup objectives stays a document for an Englishman, however he nonetheless regards that West Germany defeat as the largest blow of his profession.
“That was the largest disappointment,” he advised FFT .
“You have been so shut, you nearly had your palms on the trophy, as a result of I feel we’d have had an actual probability within the last, we have been a extremely good aspect
“However we’ll by no means know. It’s the one factor I usually look again on and assume, ‘If solely’, as a result of successful a World Cup is soccer immortality. It’s eternally.”
