THE VITALS:

Team: England

Brand: Nike

Era: 2018-19 (Used for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League and throughout the 2020 European Championships Qualifying Campaign)

Name/Number: Kane #9

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

This shirt seemingly bears no sign of wear with the material and respective applications standing in pristine condition!

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Extra Large (XL)

Pit to Pit Measurement: 21.0 inches

Shirt Length: 29.0 inches 

Made by Nike in their ‘Dri-Fit’ range of shirts which they released in 2018; the dimensions of this shirt suggest that this could also fit a size large.

DESCRIPTION:

In the fourth shirt of the NikexEngland collection, this shirt went back to the very basics; almost echoing the times of the Admiral era After their unique designs that had been used previously for the first three iterations making this shirt no doubt Nike’s most traditional looking England shirt since taking over the reins in 2013. This particular edition also features the vinyl patches on the arms of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. After a series of disappointing international tournaments during the 2010’s; this shirt would be synonymous with the Gareth Southgate revolution, as ‘The Three Lions’ finished in 4^th place at the World Cup in 2018; reaching their first semi-final since 1990. The shirt was also worn as they cruised to the inaugural UEFA Nations League Finals, as they topped their group ahead of both Spain and Croatia before finishing 3rd. This would also be the last England shirt to worn by Wayne Rooney as he played his 120^th and final cap for England when they met the United States of America in a friendly on 15^th November 2018. During this cycle, debuts would handed to the likes of: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jadon Sancho, Mason Mount, Ben Chilwell, Declan Rice, James Maddison and Callum Wilson.

THE SEASON(S):

England entered 2018 on the back off an excellent 2017 that saw them finish at the top of the World Cup qualification group with another unbeaten qualifying campaign before ending the year with a pair of goalless draws against Germany and Brazil respectively.

England and Tte Netherlands would have their traditional friendly match to kick off the road to Russia and England would build further momentum when they saw off the hosts 1-0 on 23^rd March making it the first time since Euro 1996 (and seven subsequent meetings since) that they had defeated their European rivals! England would next square off with another European giant who would not be playing at the World Cup that summer in Italy, and 1-1 draw would unfold at Wembley Stadium.

Gareth Southgate’s team would reunite in early June to fulfil their final pre-World Cup obligations and they did so with aplomb; beating both Nigeria and Costa Rica. The game with Costa Rica also has the caveat of being the first England international fixture to have been played at Leeds United’s Elland Road since their friendly with Italy in March 2002!

England took their place in Group G at the World Cup alongside Tunisia, Panama and of the tournament favourites – Belgium, and they got off the mark with a 2-1 win thanks to Harry Kane’s brace in what was his first game at a World Cup finals. Up next came Panama and England would race into a 5-0 lead at half time to win 6-1 and record their biggest victory at a World Cup! More importantly, they secured qualification to the Last 16 with a game to spare. Defeat to Belgium in the group decider would put a dampener on proceedings as they would finish in 2^nd place with the challenge of Colombia in the Round of 16.

England thought they were home and dry as their 1-0 lead went into the 93rd minute, however, Yerry Mina would equalise and the game would go to penalties. England would recover from Jordan Henderson’s missed spot-kick to win the shoot-out 4-3 in what was their first win in a penalty shoot-out since beating Spain at Euro 96; moreover, it was the first time after five consecutive penalty shoot-out defeats that they had won in a shoot-out!

Their quarter-final opponents were Sweden, however, the momentum behind the England side was at an all-time high; evoking memories of the World Cup in 1990 and Euro 96 – such was the support for the national side. In the 7^th July clash in Samara; England repaid the faith by winning comfortably 2-0 to reach the semi-final of the World Cup for the first time since Italia 90!

Up next would be a Croatia side who had comfortably beaten Argentina in the Group Stage en route to a 100% winning Group Stage performance and had also eliminated Denmark and hosts – Russia on penalties to reach their second ever World Cup semi-final after first doing so in 1998. Kieran Trippier’s early free-kick flew into the back of the net to send the England fans into pandemonium; however, Ivan Perisic’s second half equaliser set the tone for the inevitable as Mario Mandzukic scored Croatia’s winning goal in extra time to deny England a place in the final. They would have to settle for 4^th place after they were beaten by Belgium in the Third-Place Play-Off.

England would then take their place in the newly created UEFA Nations League where they would be in Group 4 alongside Spain and as fate would have it – Croatia. Spain would defeat England on Match-Day 1 on 8^th September, before beating Switzerland 1-0 in a friendly, three days later.

Their next outing on 12^th October would be a rematch with Croatia in Rijeka; however, the affair would end goalless. They would then assert their position in the group by beating Spain 3-2 in the reverse fixture to set up a winner takes all clash with Croatia on 18^th November after Croatia had beaten Spain three days earlier. On that same day, Wayne Rooney played his last fixture for England when they hosted the United States of America at Wembley Stadium. An incredible 2018 would culminate with England coming from a goal behind to beat Croatia 2-1 and take their place in the Nations League semi-finals that would take place in June 2019!

The final decade of the 2010’s – 2019, got underway with qualification for Euro 2020 and in their opening showdown, the Czech Republic came to Wembley Stadium and Gareth Southgate’s side put on a show – winning 5-0, before putting five more goals past Montenegro on 25^th March in their second qualifier for Euro 2020!

In the semi-final of the Nations League; England would renew acquaintances with the Netherlands on 6^th June; however, they would meet the same fate as they did at the World Cup – losing in extra time after initially taking the lead. They would however finish in 3^rd place after defeating Switzerland on penalties, making it the first time in the national teams history that they had won in successive penalty shoot-outs.

Qualification for Euro 2020 resumed on 7^th September and England were again in red-hot goal scoing form as they beat Bulgaria 4-0 and then entertained a thrilling 5-3 victory over Kosovo three days later. Their 100% winning record would sadly be ended by the Czech Republic on 11^th October, but it would be inconsequential in the grander scheme of things. ‘The Three Lions’ would end the decade of the 2010’s in scintillating form as they beat Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Kosovo by 6-0, 7-0 and 4-0 margins respectively to comfortably take their place at the multi-national European Championships in 2020 – winning the group with 21/24 points scoring 37 goals along the way!

The notable players that season(s) were:

Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Danny Welbeck, Calum Wilson, Jadon Sancho, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Raheem Sterling, James Maddison, Jesse Lingard, Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jordan Henderson, Declan Rice, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Phil Jones, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Chilwell, Jordan Pickford