Belgium         Czech Rep.         Denmark         England         France         Germany         Holland         Italy         Norway         Portugal         Romania         Slovenia         Spain         Sweden         Turkey         Yugoslavia Name: Alan Shearer Age: 30 Position: Striker England Caps: 56 England Goals: 28 Club: Newcastle United Previous Clubs: Blackburn Rovers, Southampton This will be Alan Shearer's last tournament in International football. He will retire after the end of Euro 2000. Made captain of England by Glenn Hoddle, he retained the honour when Kevin Keegan succeeded to the post of England manager. Because of this, and his excellent scoring record in the Premiership, he remains one of the highest profile players in the land, with his performance continually under the closest of scrutiny. And, having suffered a series of serious injuries in recent years, there were regular suggestions that he is no longer the player he was. However, he continues to confound his critics, and his scoring record in a season interrupted again by injury was a goal every other game, his penalty at Forest in March being his 50th counter for Newcastle. Remaining as committed as ever, with a very high will to win, and an important influence in the dressing room, he has a very strong all-round game, mixing stunning goals from a distance with tap-ins gained through a strikers's sharp positional sense. He is also physically very strong and difficult to knock off the ball, and his spring makes him a real danger in the air. After ten games, beginning the previous season, without a Newcastle goal he rediscovered his touch and scored seven in four (including the six in three Premiership) games, plus one for England. Subject of frequent rumours predicting his imminent departure from his hometown club, which he became weary of denying, he suffered his longest ever goal famine in league football when failed to score from September to the end of January, spanning 14 hours and 50 minutes playing time, although he did score in both the Worthington and FA Cups during this period. During this time he also suffered a hamstring tear in his right leg, against Sheffield Wednesday, which sidelined him for a month, before breaking the drought against Villa in a match in which he gave a sterling performance against a highly-regarded defence. Suspended in February for the first time in his career, because of an accumulation of yellow cards, the fans await with keen anticipation the development of a partnership with Duncan Ferguson that has been frustrated to date by untimely injuries to both players. A glimpse of it was provided when Duncan made a substitute appearance in the FA Cup semi-final, in which Alan was for the second consecutive year the winning scorer, this time with a penalty, coolly converted in a cauldron atmosphere, and a fulminating drive from the edge of the penalty area, to take his club back to Wembley. He was honoured to be chosen as the FA Premier League Hall of Fame inductee for season 1994-95. The England captain has been enjoying good goalscoring form this season but only after Bobby Robson took over at the club. The early part of the season saw Alan seemingly at odds with Ruud Gullit to the extent that he was on the bench for the home game with Sunderland. However with Robson in charge Alan hit five (for the first time in his career) in an 8-0 drubbing of Sheffield Wednesday and followed that with five in the next three games. He has continued to score regularly throughout the campaign and currently is enjoying a good partnership with Duncan Ferguson. Back