Steven Gerrard will become the 6th England player to notch up 100 caps when he lines up to face Sweden on Wednesday.
Gerrard will skipper the side in Stockholm and add his name to the list of those distinguished names in the 100 club joining Billy Wright, Bobby Charlton, Booby Moore, Peter Shilton and David Beckham.
In his three lions career Gerrard has won 65% of matches played, won 54% of matches as captain, scored 19 goals, racked up 19 assists, completed 80% of his passes and won 75% of his tackles, pretty impressive although as is commonplace in sport these don’t tell the full story as Gerrard’s England trophy cabinet remains empty.
But looking at all of England’s performances since Gerrard first took to the field for his country in May 2000 against Ukraine, you can count on one hand the number of players who have consistently performed to the same level as him. (Beckham, Cole, Terry)
Despite not winning a major tournament on the international stage Gerrard has still performed and given his all, he’s scored three goals at the World Cup and was the only England player who bothered to show up in South Africa, and he was the only England player to be named in the all-star team at Euro 2012.
And who knows if at some point in the last 12 years an England boss had the guts to drop Lampard, as clearly he and Gerrard don’t work, then maybe we could have at least got to the semi-finals of a tournament.
Many people still are, in my opinion unfairly, critical of Gerrard, but perhaps that’s also the biggest indicator of just how good he is because people expect so much of him that when he doesn’t live up to that it’s seen as a failing.
Instead of complaining and saying he hasn’t done this and he hasn’t done that, just enjoying it while it lasts because once he retires after the 2014 World Cup there will be a noticeable hole in England’s midfield and as yet I haven’t seen anyone prove they are capable of filling it.
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