THE VITALS:

Team: England

Brand: Umbro

Era: 2006-07 (Used for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and during the 2008 UEFA European Championships Qualifying campaign)

Name/Number: Gerrard #4

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

Despite having already entered its 18^th birthday at the time of writing – this article is simply immaculate with the material, name and numbering and respective applications bearing very little wear!

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19.0 inches

Shirt Length: 27.5 inches 

Made by Umbro in their 'X-Static' range of shirts which they released in 2006; these shirts have a lovely fit and this shirt is no exception with excellent dimensions for a size small football shirt!

DESCRIPTION:

The England away shirt released by Umbro in 2006 was a fantastic successor to its predecessor with red remaining as the classic change colour and the St George’s cross being rendered into right epaulette, while gold replaced silver as the tertiary colour. As per Umbro’s signature template that they introduced in 2006 – the Umbro diamond, now vinyl in material, was brought just under the right epaulette to create an asymmetrical formation alongside the crest. The crest was embroidered as majestically as ever and was now imbued with a golden border and the cherry on the top was the beautiful gold star that sits above it. This shirt debuted in England’s 2-1 win over Uruguay on 1^st March 2006 and was worn in subsequent matches against – Jamaica, Sweden, Greece and Estonia with an unbeaten record of four wins and one draw whilst wearing this classy ensemble.

THE SEASON(S):

England would enjoy a glorious end to 2005 as they sealed 1^st place in their group to reach the World Cup tournament finals in Germany in 2006 and in their final fixture of the year - they took on Argentina for the first time since their meeting at the World Cup in 2002 and came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 on 12^tH November in Switzerland!

2006 would be just 23 days old when it was revealed that Sven-Goran Eriksson would be resigning from his position as England’s manager! His farewell tour began on 1^st March when England overcame Uruguay 2-1, however, ‘The Three Lions’ would not come together again until 30^th May.

With just ten days until they kicked off their World Cup campaign against Paraguay on 10^th June; England eased past Hungary 3-1, before putting six goals past Jamaica with Peter Crouch scoring a hat-trick in their final friendly before the World Cup.

England would edge past Paraguay 1-0, before sealing their place in the Round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago; however, 1^st and 2^nd place would be decided when England met Sweden on 20^th June in Cologne. England needed to avoid defeat to Sweden and one of the games of the tournament ended 2-2 – thus setting England up against Ecuador in the next round.

David Beckham’s free-kick was enough to punch England’s ticket to the quarter-finals; and the next chapter of a modern rivalry would be written as England rematched Portugal just over 24 months to day of their legendary encounter at Euro 2004. Although this affair would end goalless, there would be no shortage of incidents – most notably when Wayne Rooney was sent off after what appeared to be simulation by his Manchester United team-mate – Cristiano Ronaldo. Unfortunately for England; they would be beaten on penalties once again by the Iberian nation in what would be Sven-Goran Eriksson’s final game in-charge of the national side.

Steve McClaren was chosen to be his successor and his first match in charge would be a resounding 4-0 win over the European champions – Greece on 16^th August. The road to Euro 2008 would begin on 2^nd September and a pair of victories came their way over Andorra and Macedonia, before drawing with the Balkan nation in the home fixture on 7^th October.

England’s 15 match unbeaten run (excluding penalties) came to an abrupt end when Croatia inflicted England’s first defeat in European Championship qualification on 11^th October. The year of 2006 would end with a friendly against the Netherlands on 15^th November that ended in a 1-1 draw; making it the third draw in a row between the two countries.

Steve McClaren’s side would regroup on 7^th February for their first game of 2007 when they hosted Spain at Old Trafford in a friendly match and would suffer their first defeat on home soil since being beaten by Denmark in December 2002! A draw with Israel on 24^th March would make it four games without a win for the national side, however, they would bounce back with a 3-0 win over Andorra in what was becoming a fiercely competitive Group E to reach Euro 2008.

England would play their first game at the new Wembley Stadium on 1^st June and they would welcome the five time’s World Cup winners – Brazil for a glamour friendly that ended 1-1. Five days later, England would ease past Estonia 3-0 to continue their march to Euro 2008. Their second foray Wembley would see Germany come to town on 22^nd August and England would be beaten 2-1 by their most fierce rivals.

The European Championship qualifiers resumed in September and England would claim huge wins over: Russia, Israel and Estonia – all by 3-0 score-lines to put them on 23 points and three points behind Croatia with two games remaining, while Russia were on 21 points with a game extra in hand, and Israel had 17 points of their own with two games to spare.

Victory over Russia on 17^th October would have kept England’s destiny in their own hands, and Wayne Rooney would give them a lead in Russia before a second half collapse saw them beaten 2-1 in Moscow. They would be given a lifeline however as both Russia and Croatia were beaten in their penultimate qualifying games; and the standings ahead of the deciding match day meant that all three nations could still reach Euro 2008 with likely England or Croatia missing out depending on the outcome of their meeting at Wembley Stadium on 21^st November.

To prepare, England would defeat Austria 1-0 in a friendly in Vienna on 16^th November and then in front of over 88,000 fans at Wembley Stadium – England would come from 2-0 down to make it 2-2, only to be beaten 3-2 following Mladen Petric’s winner. With Russia defeating Andorra – it would be Croatia and Russia who qualified and England would miss out on a major tournament for the first time since the World Cup in 1994; ultimately costing Steve McClaren his position as the manager of the national side.

The notable players that season(s) were:

David Nugent, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch, Theo Walcott, Shaun-Wright Phillips, Aaron Lennon, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves, David Beckham, Kieran Richardson, Ashley Cole, Micah Richards, Gary Neville, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, David James, Paul Robinson