England’s rare ‘big games’ with no Liverpool, Man Utd or Arsenal players

“There were no players from Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United in England’s starting XI against Croatia on Sunday,” tweets Nick Parmenter. “When was the last time this happened in a major tournament?”

Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are the traditional giants of English football, so it’s pretty rare for the national team to start a Big Game without any of their players. We think that Sunday’s win over Croatia was only the third time it has happened at a major tournament. The first was England’s opening match of the 1958 World Cup, a 2-2 draw against the USSR. The legendary Tom Finney was injured during that game and missed the rest of the competition, with Liverpool’s Alan A’Court coming into the team for following games.

Before Croatia, the most recent example occurred at Euro 92: England’s second match of their miserable campaign, a 0-0 draw against France that is best remembered for Basile Boli putting the head on Stuart Pearce.

The team selected by Graham Taylor for that match, in 3-5-2 formation, was: Chris Woods (Sheffield Wednesday); Martin Keown (Everton), Carlton Palmer (Sheffield Wednesday), Des Walker (Nottingham Forest); Andy Sinton (QPR), Trevor Steven (Marseille), David Batty (Leeds), David Platt (Bari); Gary Lineker (Tottenham Hotspur), Alan Shearer (Southampton).

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Arsenal’s Alan Smith and Paul Merson had started three days earlier, when England kicked off with a 0-0 draw against Denmark, while Neil Webb began the third and final match, the infamous 2-1 defeat to Sweden. Even though he was on the way out at Old Trafford, Webb was the only Manchester United player who made the squad. Paul Parker, Gary Pallister, who was voted the PFA Player of the Year in 1991-92, and the uncapped Paul Ince were omitted.

It’s worth pointing out that at least two and probably three Liverpool players – John Barnes, Mark Wright and Rob Jones – would have started all the group games but for injury. Barnes and Wright suffered Achilles injuries in the final warm-up game against Finland, which took place after England had submitted their final 20-man squad. Jones, a revelation at right-back in his first top-flight season, had already been ruled out with shin splints.

With Rangers’ Gary Stevens also going down after the Finland game, Arsenal’s Lee Dixon would probably have played at right-back but for a knee problem. (England ended up starting their three matches with Keith Curle, Sinton and David Batty in that position.) Ian Wright, who won the Golden Boot that season, was not selected. Nor were David Seaman – only two keepers were picked in a 20-man squad, and Nigel Martyn was preferred as back up – and Tony Adams.

Adams had played for England only once in 15 months since his release from prison, and was not included in the 20-man squad. He was on standby, though, and England wanted him to replace the injured Wright. Uefa, who had already allowed Sinton and Curle to join the squad as replacements, rejected the request.

Notts County old boys at the Euros

“This summer’s European Championships will feature three ex-Notts County players: Kasper Schmeichel, Jack Grealish and Callum McGregor,” notes Steve Hyde. “Can any other non-league team beat this for a major international tournament?”

If you want an international football variation on the rags-to-riches story, you might as well start at the club owned by two Hollywood stars. “Wrexham had four former players at Euro 2016 – Danny Ward, Neil Taylor, Joe Allen (all Wales) and Jon Walters (Republic of Ireland),” writes Liam Hughes. “Ward never actually played for the first team before moving to Liverpool and Allen only played twice on loan from Swansea but surely they still count. We don’t have much to boast about right now.”

Mark Barnes points out that Wrexham have three players at this year’s tournament. “Allen and Ward started for Wales against Switzerland, as did Austria’s Dan Bachmann,” he says. “Unlike the Notts County example, these all represented Wrexham during their non-league sojourn, rather than before dropping down the divisions.”

Goalkeepers caught offside

“Scoring as a goalkeeper is rare, but in the second leg of Bournemouth’s play-off semi against Brentford, Asmir Begovic achieved something arguably more unusual for a keeper – being called offside. Has this happened before?” muses Kieran Murray.

Like most things under the sun, this has indeed happened before. Ross Heaviside reminds us of one of the great disallowed goals. “Peter Schmeichel scored an overhead kick in injury time for Manchester United against Wimbledon in an FA Cup game in 1996-97,” writes Ross. “He was miles offside, but it was still a great finish. United, who were the holders, lost 1-0.”

Tom O’Connor has another example. “In November 2012 I saw Mainz 05 goalkeeper Christian Wetklo flagged for offside in their game away to Hamburg,” writes Tom. “He had gone up in injury time trying to equalise Son Heung-min’s opener. It was a terrible game, freezing cold and I was made to wear lederhosen as it was my stag do. The offside was the highlight of the game.”

Losing European finalists from the same city

“You’ve covered teams from the same city winning both European cups (Madrid in 2018 I believe is the most recent case),” says Pablo Miguez. “But have there been any cases of both losing finalists being from the same city before Manchester United and Manchester City this season?”

The very short answer is yes: in 2019, London’s own Spurs and Arsenal lost to Liverpool and Chelsea respectively.

Knowledge archive

“My club, non-league Guildford City, have just completed what I think may be a unique, albeit unwanted, record,” wrote Matt Howell in April 2011. “Have there been any other instances of two brothers being sent off for the same club during the same season while playing in the same position? Goalkeeper Antony Hall was dismissed last weekend, while his brother Michael was sent off during a cup match earlier in the season. It was Antony himself who suggested this might be a record and I’d be interested to see if he’s correct.”

The Hall boys have some company at the very top of the English game. “Fábio da Silva was sent off in a League Cup match against Wolves for a professional foul on Michael Kightly during the 2009-10 season,” writes Tim Hill. “In the same season his twin brother Rafael was also red-carded while playing against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final.”

Can you help?

“Goran Pandev is currently playing at Euro 2020 with North Macedonia. One of his teammates, Marjan Radeski, plays for a club founded by and named after Pandev, Akademija Pandev. Has this ever happened before?” wonders Phil Farrell.

“Has anybody played or managed against every one of the 92 league clubs over the course of their career?” writes Law Martin.

The current design of the European Championship takes 36 games to eliminate eight teams in the first round. The Copa América is even worse, taking 20 matches to remove two teams. Are there, or have there been, any tournaments that take comparatively more games to remove a number of teams?” asks Rob Ensor.

Email your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.