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Charlton was crowned European Footballer of the Year after England's World Cup win. Allsport Hulton/Archive |
In the late 1960s Bobby Charlton was as recognizable an English icon as the Queen and the Beatles.
Arguably England's greatest-ever player, Charlton was a rampaging midfielder with a devastating shot, but his fame was also due to the spirit in which he played the game. The perfect English gentleman, Charlton embodied soccer's idealized Corinthian values.
Just as English soccer would peak at Wembley in 1966, so too would Charlton. A spectacular long-range goal in the first round against Mexico injected some momentum into a flagging campaign and against Portugal in the semifinal Charlton would play the best game of his international career, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win.
Charlton's contribution in the final was less spectacular, but by limiting Franz Beckenbauer's contribution -- the West German star had been deployed as a man marker against Charlton -- he played a key role in England's 4-2 win and later won the the European Footballer of the Year award.
Beckenbauer and Charlton would clash again in England and West Germany's quarterfinal in Mexico four years later. Once again Charlton enjoyed the better of the encounter with England taking a 2-0 lead. But with 20 minutes to go he was substituted by Alf Ramsay to rest him for the semifinal. Liberated at last, Beckenbauer rallied the West Germans to a 3-2 victory.
Charlton's World Cup career therefore ended where it had started -- on the bench.
Two years after surviving the Munich air crash that had killed many of his Manchester United teammates, Charlton was an unused member of the England squad that went to Sweden, waiting four years to make his tournament debut in England's run to the quarterfinals. His goal in a 3-1 win over Argentina was one of 49 -- a record matched for England only by Gary Lineker -- in a distinguished international career.
