Editing Gary Lineker (section)

==International career==
Lineker was [[Cap (sport)|capped]] once by the [[England national football B team|England B national team]], playing in a 2–0 home win over New Zealand's B team on 13 November 1984.<ref name="England - International Results B-Team - Details">{{cite web|last=Courtney |first=Barrie |title=England – International Results B-Team – Details |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablese/eng-b-intres-det.html |publisher=Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation |date=21 March 2004 |access-date=9 June 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032317/http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-b-intres-det.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> He first played for the full [[England national football team|England team]] against [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]] in 1984. He played five games in the [[1986 FIFA World Cup|1986 World Cup]] and was top scorer of the tournament with six goals, winning the [[FIFA World Cup awards#Golden Boot|Golden Boot]], making him the first English player to have done so. He scored the second quickest hat-trick ever at a FIFA World Cup tournament against [[Poland national football team|Poland]], the second English player to score a hat-trick at a World Cup, and scored two goals against [[Paraguay national football team|Paraguay]] in the second round. He played most of the tournament wearing a lightweight cast on his forearm. He scored for England in the World Cup quarter-final against [[Argentina national football team|Argentina]], but the game ended in defeat as [[Diego Maradona]] scored twice for the opposition (the first goal being the "[[Argentina v England (1986 FIFA World Cup)|Hand of God]]" handball, and the second being the "[[Argentina v England (1986 FIFA World Cup)#The Goal of the Century|Goal of the Century]]"). In 1988, Lineker played in [[UEFA Euro 1988|Euro 88]], but failed to score as England lost all three Group games. It was later established that he had been suffering from [[hepatitis]].<ref>C. Malam, p. 100.</ref><ref>The first was against [[Spain men's national football team|Spain]] 18 February 1987 and the second time against [[Malaysia national football team|Malaysia]] 12 June 1991.</ref>

In the [[1990 FIFA World Cup|1990 World Cup]], he scored four goals to help England reach the semi-finals. He was unwell during the tournament, and accidentally defecated in his shorts during the opening group game against the [[Republic of Ireland national football team|Republic of Ireland]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Lineker Admits to Shitting Himself (Literally) Against Ireland at Italia '90|url=http://www.joe.ie/uncategorized/lineker-admits-to-shitting-himself-literally-against-ireland-at-italia-90/12833|access-date=20 April 2015|work=Joe}}</ref> After [[Andreas Brehme]] sent England 1–0 down in the semi-final, Lineker received a pass from [[Paul Parker (footballer)|Paul Parker]] and escaped two [[Germany national football team|West German]] defenders on his way to scoring the equaliser, but the West Germans triumphed in the penalty shoot-out and went on to win the trophy. Later he said: "Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/do-you-remember/newsid=1010260/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331094309/http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/do-you-remember/newsid=1010260/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 March 2013 |title=Classic Players – Lineker, still at the top – FIFA |publisher=FIFA |access-date=25 November 2014}}</ref> Lineker's equaliser appears in the popular England national team anthem, "[[Three Lions (song)|Three Lions]]", with the lyric "When Lineker scored".<ref>{{cite news |title=It's Coming Home: England fans sing wrong lyric to Three Lions ahead of World Cup quarter-finals |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/three-lions-its-coming-home-england-fans-lyrics-wrong-world-cup-a8432656.html |access-date=14 August 2019 |work=Independent}}</ref>

He retired from international football with eighty [[Cap (sport)|caps]] and 48 goals, one fewer goal than Sir [[Bobby Charlton]]'s England record (which Charlton accrued over 106 caps). In what proved to be his last England match, against [[Sweden men's national football team|Sweden]] at [[UEFA Euro 1992|Euro 92]], he was substituted by England coach [[Graham Taylor]] in favour of Arsenal striker [[Alan Smith (footballer, born 1962)|Alan Smith]], ultimately denying him the chance to equal — or even better — Charlton's record.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/Seas1990-00/1991-92/M0688Swe1992.html |title=Sweden 2 England 1 Match Summary and Report |date=17 June 1992|work=England Football Online|access-date=19 May 2010|publisher=EnglandInteractive}}</ref> He had earlier missed a [[Penalty kick (association football)|penalty]] that would have brought him level, in a pre-tournament friendly against [[Brazil national football team|Brazil]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2009/nov/12/england-brazil-previous-meetings?picture=355511205|title=Past encounters between England and Brazil |date=12 November 2009 |work=The Guardian |access-date=19 May 2010}}</ref> He was visibly upset at the decision, not looking at Taylor as he took the bench.

He scored four [[Scoring in association football|goals]] in an England match on two occasions and is one of very few players never to have been given a yellow card or a red card in any type of game.<ref>Malam, pp. 140, 141.</ref>