International Career
During his first spell at Newcastle, Beardsley became a regular in the England side and teamed up with striker Gary Lineker, who described Beardsley as "the best partner I could ever have".
Ironically, it was Lineker who made way for Beardsley when manager Bobby Robson gave him his debut as a substitute on 29 January 1986 in the 4–0 friendly victory over Egypt in Cairo. His first goal came in his fourth appearance, on 17 May 1986 in the 3–0 friendly win over Mexico in Los Angeles.
Having only made his debut on 29 January 1986 in a 4-0 friendly win over Egypt, Beardsley's performances for England won him a call-up for the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico. England scored seven goals in the tournament, of which Lineker scored six (winning the Golden Boot for doing so); the other goal came from Beardsley in a 3–0 victory over Paraguay in the second round. England had failed to score a goal in the first two matches of the finals, but in the third match – Beardsley's first start in the tournament – they beat Poland 3–0. Beardsley contributed in that match with a spectacular cross to Steve Hodge, which allowed Hodge to make England's second goal for Lineker. The next match was to be the famous Argentina vs. England, in which Diego Maradona scored twice for the victory 2-1 that left England out of the tournament. Beardsley played the full game and was one of the five players passed by Maradona in the notably world-regarded as the 'goal of the century'.
Despite falling out of favour in the Liverpool line-up, he maintained his place in the England team and featured in both Euro 88 and the 1990 World Cup. He was given the honour of captaining England on 17 February 1988 when they drew 0–0 in a friendly with Israel.
Beardsley was ignored by England manager Graham Taylor after the end of 1990, and continued to be overlooked by him despite England's dismal performance at Euro 92 as well as their troubled and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the 1994 World Cup – a large step backwards for a national side who had been semi-finalists and only been prevented from reaching the final by a penalty shoot-out defeat at the previous World Cup under Taylor's predecessor Bobby Robson.
During his second spell at Newcastle Beardsley was recalled to the England team in early 1994 after an absence of three years, and ultimately ended his international career while still at Newcastle in 1996, after gaining 59 caps and scoring 9 goals.
Beardsley once scored four goals for England against Aylesbury United. These did not count towards his international tally, however, as this was not an official international match.
Read more about this topic: Peter Beardsley
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