The brace of goals from Wayne Rooney against San Marino last week took the Manchester United striker to 31 goals for England and fifth on the all-time goalscorers list.
Sir Bobby Charlton heads the list with 49, one ahead of Gary Lineker, followed by Jimmy Greaves and Michael Owen.
England have had some wonderful players who have scored plenty of goals and it isn’t just strikers too.
The likes of David Platt, David Beckham, Frank Lampard and John Barnes have popped up with many memorable efforts down the years.
However, there have been some very unlikely goalscorers too for the Three Lions and Simon Wright from Total Football has picked out 10 of the most uncommon individuals who have found the net for England since 1990.
Martin Keown
Arsenal legend Martin Keown represented England on 42 occasions between 1992 and 2002.
He scored in one of his first international appearances when he netted in a 2-2 friendly draw with Czechoslovakia in March 1992.
An injury to Mark Wright saw him go to Euro 92 and he also was part of the squad at World Cup 98, Euro 2000 and World Cup 2002.
Keown wasn’t liked by all Three Lions managers. He was totally ignored by Terry Venables and only used sparingly by Glenn Hoddle but he captained the side in a 0-0 draw against Finland in October 2001, days after Kevin Keegan’s resignation.
It was under Keegan when Keown scored his only other England goal, a header in an unconvincing 2-1 victory over Malta in the build-up to Euro 2000.
He retired from international football 24 hours after England’s exit from the 2002 World Cup at the hands of Brazil.
Rob Lee
Midfielder Rob Lee was a fans favourite in his 10 years as a Newcastle United player.
He represented England 21 times in the mid 1990s and was first called up to the squad by Venables for a friendly with the USA in September 1994.
He started the 1994-95 campaign in great goalscoring form and on his full debut, netted the equaliser at Wembley at home to Romania in October 1994.
His other strike was the opener in another friendly victory against South Africa at Old Trafford three years later.
Hoddle took him to the World Cup in 1998 and he made one substitute appearance.
Nowadays, you’d struggle to remember Lee’s impact on the game but in his prime, he was one of the best attacking midfielders in the Premier League and deserved his England chance.
Steve Stone
Steve Stone’s career was dogged by injury, suffering three broken legs at certain stages throughout his playing days.
He had a great 1995-96 season and was called up into the senior setup for a friendly in Oslo against Norway.
Stone scored in back-to-back friendly internationals as 1995 drew to a close, when England beat Switzerland 3-1 and drew 1-1 with Portugal.
Venables selected him as part of the Euro 96 squad but injury struck again and ended his international career sooner than anticipated.
He only made nine appearances for his country and deserved more but for cruel fate.
Ugo Ehiogu
He only made four appearances for the Three Lions, remarkably spread across five years.
Ugo Ehiogu found the target with a late header in the first match of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s tenure, a 3-0 international friendly victory over Spain in February 2001.
It was Venables who gave him a first cap, when he came on as a substitute in a tour of China in 1996 and after his goal against the Spanish, very little has been heard of Ehiogu.
At least he can claim he scored in Sven’s first international as boss.
Francis Jeffers
Not many remember Francis Jeffers as an international footballer, although the striker is part of a small crop of players who scored in their only appearance for England.
With 13 goals, he shares the Under-21 goalscoring record with one Alan Shearer and grabbed the consolation for the senior side in the pointless 3-1 friendly defeat to Australia at Upton Park in February 2003.
Then, he was an Arsenal player with the world at his feet. Now, he is at a club called Floriana in Malta via Everton, Charlton, Blackburn, Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday, Rangers, Newcastle Jets and Motherwell.
That list above suggests he never settled and never developed into a top quality player. Jeffers was a frustrating talent and this is a case of what might have been.
Kieran Richardson
It is unlikely that Kieran Richardson will ever be selected for the squad again but he made a sensational impact on his debut.
The Fulham midfielder won a late call-up to the squad for an American tour in May 2005 and scored a stunning double in his first appearance to defeat USA 2-1.
One of the goals included a trademark Beckham style free-kick and it won praise from manager Eriksson.
A few substitute appearances followed for the Swede and under his successor Steve McClaren but Richardson became a casualty of the dreary McClaren reign and never regained his place in the squad after 2007.
Still, it was a great debut by anyone’s standards.
Wes Brown
Richardson’s former team-mate at Manchester United and Sunderland was an early favourite for Fabio Capello.
He earned his first cap for the senior side in 1999 and went to the 2002 World Cup as a backup defender.
His one goal in 23 appearances came in a 2-2 friendly draw with the Czech Republic at Wembley in August 2008.
Brown (pictured) mysteriously retired from international football two years later, just a day after he was recalled by Capello for a friendly with Hungary.
He isn’t a regular goalscorer wherever he has been, so his header against the Czechs was a welcome surprise.
Steve Bull
The record goalscorer in the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers had as brief spell in the international reckoning under the late Sir Bobby Robson in 1989-1990.
Bull was capped 13 times for England in that period and scored on his debut against Scotland after being called up at the last minute to replace the injured John Fashanu.
Two more goals arrived in a friendly against Czechoslovakia and another against Tunisia before Italia 90, where he featured in four games but failed to find the target.
His last appearance for his country came in October 1990. It was a brief cameo for Bull but a useful backup at the time in the striking department if required.
David Nugent
This is a quiz question for you all? Which city did David Nugent score his only international goal for England?
Answer is Barcelona. Nugent found the target in the 93rd minute of a 3-0 Euro 2008 qualification victory against Andorra.
It was his debut for England and he has never featured again for the Three Lions. Not much else needs to be said.
Micah Richards
In November 2006, Micah Richards became the youngest ever England defender to be called into the international squad.
It is unlikely he will feature again, after his refusal to go on the standby list for Euro 2012.
Richards has played 13 times for his country and scored once, in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel in September 2007.
He was never given a chance by Capello and it seems like he won’t be in Roy Hodgson’s plans anytime soon either.
His appearance in the friendly defeat to Holland earlier this year might have been his last for his country.
Although England will look to the likes of Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Jermain Defoe for regular goals in the qualification stages for World Cup 2014, there is always the chance that someone unlikely like a Michael Carrick, Ashley Cole or possibly a newcomer of finding the net.
Every goal counts in the road to Brazil.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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