John Motson’s broadcasting career spans over 40 years and includes 10 World Cups and more than 200 England matches.
Here, Press Association Sport picks out five of those memorable matches:
Hereford 2 Newcastle 1 (FA Cup third-round replay, February 1972)
The game that launched Motson’s Match of the Day career. It came during his year-long trial for the BBC show, who expected the tie would warrant a short segment. However, Hereford’s shock win – aided by Ronnie Radford’s famous 30-yard strike that sparked a mini pitch invasion – saw the match promoted to the main game.
Liverpool 0 Wimbledon 1 (FA Cup final, May 1988)
Lawrie Sanchez headed in a Dennis Wise free-kick to give the underdogs the lead. Liverpool had the chance to equalise in the second half but John Aldridge saw his penalty kept out by Dave Beasant, who became the first goalkeeper to save a spot-kick in a FA Cup final at Wembley.
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 2 (FA Cup semi-final replay, April 1999)
A game befitting of being the last FA Cup semi-final replay. It had everything. Following long-range goals from David Beckham and Dennis Bergkamp, deflected off Jaap Stam, Roy Keane was sent off and Arsenal had a late chance to win it but Bergkamp’s penalty was dramatically saved by Peter Schmeichel. Ryan Giggs’ wonderful solo effort in extra time then sent United through to the final, where they would beat Newcastle to complete the second leg of their historic treble.
Germany 1 England 5 (World Cup qualifying, September 2001)
The 16-year anniversary of this match passed last week but who could forget what happened in Munich that night? Sven-Goran Eriksson had only recently taken over as manager and faced a tough assignment away at one of England’s oldest rivals. The task was made even harder by Carsten Jancker’s early opener for Germany but a Michael Owen hat-trick and goals from Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey completed a remarkable turnaround.
England 1 Argentina 0 (World Cup finals, June 2002)
Four years after his red card against Argentina in St Etienne, it was redemption under the roof in Sapporo as Beckham scored the only goal from the penalty spot to edge a titanic group clash England’s way.
