Holding the record for the most sub appearances for the England national team is a strange “achievement.'' And Marcus Rashford will be up front alongside Jermain Defoe if he comes off the bench against Belgium.
10) Emile Heskey (62 apps, 22 subs)
he is the top List of England players who have played better for their country than their club, Michael Owen and his biggest fan, forming England's last great 'big man, little man' duo. He was amazing in that famous 5-1 dismantling of Germany at a time when no one else was dismantling Germany.
There was never a relationship like his with Wayne Rooney, which culminated at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The last of Heskey's 22 appearances off the bench was in the 4-1 loss to Germany, where he replaced the inactive Jermain Defoe.
9) Peter Crouch (42 apps, 23 as subs)
Certainly the ultimate 'off the bench to offer something different' player, he also ranks high on the 'better suited for country than club' list. FFor England, Crouch, usually goal-shy, scored 22 times in 42 matches, only 19 of them from the start, and was good enough to score a goal every 99 minutes. His strike rate of 0.52% is slightly better than Alan Shearer, Bobby Charlton and Wayne Rooney.
In fact, after scoring a hat-trick against Jamaica, he started the first two games of the 2006 World Cup, but was firmly back on the bench when things got serious. This would become a pattern, as he started less than a third of the games he was available to play. His last appearance in 2010 also marked his last goal for England. He never fully recovered from playing third fiddle behind Andy Carroll and Jay Bothroyd. Who could?
8) Phil Neville (59 apps, 23 subs)
Although he was included in three European Championship squads (including the disaster of 2000), he did not feature in the World Cup, despite the fact that he is versatile and would be a very useful person to have on the bench.
He played under six different England managers, the last of whom, Steve McLaren, used him as a sub and they won three games in a row 3-0. It was when they benched him that everything went wrong, so he learned his lesson from that.he remains in 50th place British Ladder, a website that used to be very good.
7) Joe Cole (56 apps, 25 as a sub)
He was too flashy and was not initially trusted by England, so 17 of his first 19 caps came from the bench. After that, he was pretty much first choice for three years between the 2006 World Cup and *that* goal against Sweden.
He then became a peripheral figure again under Fabio Capello, making his final appearance for England off the bench at the World Cup with Heskey and Germany. He later said that England were disappointed in their lack of “tactical sophistication” at the World Cup, which was probably code for “Joe Cole should have played more”.
6) Owen Hargreaves (42 apps, 25 as a sub)
“The problem I have is that the British people don't know who I am,” Hargreaves said in the summer of 2006 after being repeatedly booed ridiculously by England fans. Thankfully for Jude Bellingham, things have changed in the 18 years since. .
Remarkably, it was only the fifth year of his England career, and within two more years, when Hargreaves was still only 27, his England career would come to an end. In the end he won the hearts of skeptical England fans.Just months after he was loudly booed, he was named England Player of the Year for 2006.
5) Kieron Dyer (33 apps, 25 as subs)
Dyer, a player who is “not quite good enough” for England, started just twice in England's back-to-back games. The fact that he literally failed to score for England probably didn't help his cause.
He came off the bench as his first substitute in the 2002 World Cup loss to Brazil, which may have been a sign of the lack of “tactical sophistication” cited by Cole, who was on the bench during the game. . His last appearance was in a 2-1 friendly defeat against Germany, coming on for Alan Smith, making his then-record 25th substitute appearance.
4) James Milner (61 apps, 25 subapps)
He quit the England squad in 2016 after playing just a few minutes in a disastrous tournament, ending a largely useless seven-year international career. Unfortunately for Milner, his best years came under manager Roy Hodgson, who saw him make many substitute appearances as well as starts.
3) Jordan Henderson (81 apps, 26 subs)
He is the most capped player for England on this list, and with over 100 caps under his belt, you wouldn't bet on him limping along. He has played in six majors so far and will no doubt play in a seventh. He sometimes starts tournaments on the bench. He almost always comes rushing towards the pitch.
2) Marcus Rashford (60 apps, 34 subs)
Although he played in four international tournaments, he made the very stupid mistake of timing his best form during the non-tournament season and was never chosen as first choice. He came on the bench in place of Wayne Rooney when England lost to Iceland at Euro 2016, came off the bench in place of Raheem Sterling when England lost to Croatia in the 2018 World Cup, and played in the Euro 2020 final. Then, Henderson missed a penalty kick and came off the bench. Phil Foden was left on the bench as England lost to France in the 2022 World Cup. It's not a great record.
1) Jermain Defoe (57 apps, 35 as a sub)
He made his last sub appearance for England, replacing Jake Livermore, more than 13 years after his first sub appearance for Darius Vassell (ah, those dark days). He played under five English managers but was rarely seen as first choice by any of them. Of his 20 goals for England, only 7 came off the bench, which could have been a convincing argument for more starts for England, but in reality he It was a good argument for benching the .
