Former Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool men are among the players to score on their England debuts since the turn of the century.
Scoring on your England debut is pure Roy of the Rovers stuff, and only a select number of players have managed to do so this millennium.
We’ve taken a closer look at those 16 men to see how their careers panned out after those landmark occasions.
Vassell’s England debut was notable as it also saw Michael Ricketts and Wayne Bridge make their bows in a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands.
The then-Aston Villa forward stole the show with a man-of-the-match display as he equalised with a bicycle kick. His England career ended in disappointment two years later when he missed the decisive spot-kick in the quarter-final defeat to Portugal at Euro 2004.
Despite not appearing since suffering a serious knee injury while playing for Leicester City in 2011, Vassell only announced his retirement in 2016.
Most recently a coach at Oldham Athletic, Jeffers managed to overshadow the debut of another former Toffees striker by scoring England’s only goal in a 3-1 defeat to Australia in 2003.
Sven-Goran Eriksson decided to field a different XI in each half, leading to Jeffers and Wayne Rooney leading the line for the Three Lions after the break.
Jeffers never played for England again. Rooney fared slightly better.
Ahh, the Shaun Wright-Phillips years. Remember them, so full of hope and fun and eternal promise about the Golden Generation being littered with talented youngsters?
A brilliant solo goal against Ukraine on his first cap only helped add to the excitement, although the former Manchester City and Chelsea winger never truly established himself in the side despite collecting a respectable 36 caps.
He’s now 43 and has a son on the books at Belgian club Beerschot. We’re getting old.
Ahh, the Kieran Richardson years. Featuring a post-season tour of the US which saw the likes of Zat Knight, Luke Young and Andrew Johnson earn England caps.
A 2-1 victory over the USA was secured thanks to two goals from debutant Richardson, including one excellent free-kick.
The left-sided player won just seven more caps for England and was last seen spending trial periods with Tony Adams’ Granada in 2017, alongside Nigel Reo-Coker, and Phil Brown’s Southend.
Neither materialised into full-time contracts.
Has there ever been a better debut goal for England? Absolutely not. Has there ever been a better goal for England? Absolutely not.
Like Jeffers, Nugent can be pretty satisfied with his one-cap-one-goal England record and retired from the game in 2021.
Another player with a 100% goalscoring record for England, Caulker displayed the type of form which made Liverpool sign the defender as an auxiliary striker in a friendly defeat to Sweden in 2012.
Sadly for the then-Spurs defender, Zlatan Ibrahimovic slightly stole the show with all four of Sweden’s goals, including *that* overhead kick.
Caulker’s career is a cautionary tale, with the 33-year-old, who is now playing in Turkey for Ankara Keciorengucu. having spoken out about his problems with gambling, addiction and depression.
Remember when Townsend was actually kind of alright for England? That seems quite a long time ago now, but it’s worth noting he used his displays for the Three Lions to fuel a beef with Paul Merson.
“If that’s the only moment I’m going to have in an England shirt – hopefully not – I couldn’t have wished for it to have been any better.”
If you’re going to score on your England debut, against Scotland of all teams, doing it with your first touch to prompt a flurry of stories about how you used to work in a beetroot factory is a pretty good way to go.
The striker went on to score two more goals for the Three Lions but retired only three years later and has since gone down a conspiracy rabbit hole.
Things have continued to go quite well for England’s record goalscorer.
Europa League debut? Check.
Premier League debut? Check.
Senior international debut? Check.
Under-21 international debut? Check.
League Cup debut? Check.
Champions League debut? Check.
If you need a debut goal, give Rashford a call.
Wilson has made a further eight appearances for England since scoring on his debut against the USA in 2018, but is now out of the picture as younger strikers come through.
After netting against Wales in 2020, Calvert-Lewin was named in the European Championship squad as Kane’s back-up.
But injuries and inconsistencies at club level with Everton have seen the striker slip away from his contention. He’s not played for England since 2021.
If you were to handpick opponents to face on your international debut, San Marino would be top of the list.
But that shouldn’t detract from Watkins’ achievement, especially considering he was playing for Exeter City in League Two only four years ago.
The Aston Villa striker has made 18 appearances for his country and memorably scored the winner against the Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi-final.
A deft flick against Greece in November 2024 saw Jones break his international duck and the Liverpool midfielder was selected in Thomas Tuchel’s first line-up in charge. A bright future is ahead.
Four players scored their first England goal in the Nations League thrashing of the Republic of Ireland in November 2024.
Alongside Anthony Gordon, Conor Gallagher and Jarrod Bowen’s first strikes was the sight of debutant Harwood-Bellis heading home and irking future father-in-law Roy Keane in the ITV studio.
The Southampton defender hasn’t played for England since, but we imagine he’ll get further opportunities in the years to come.
After a breakthrough season at Arsenal, Lewis-Skelly was rewarded with a call-up to Tuchel’s first squad and netted the opener in the World Cup qualifier against Albania.