Editing Stuart Pearce (section)

==International career==
Pearce made his debut for [[England national football team|England]] against [[Brazil national football team|Brazil]] in a 1–1 friendly draw at Wembley on 19 May 1987 at age 25.<ref name="eol">{{Englandstats|ref=y|access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> Replacing [[Kenny Sansom]] as the first choice left-back for his country, injury prevented him from playing in the [[UEFA Euro 1988|1988 UEFA European Championship]]. Following the tournament, he was consistently picked as left-back and scored his first England goal in his 21st senior appearance for England on 25 April 1990, scoring in a 4–2 friendly win over [[Czechoslovakia national football team|Czechoslovakia]] at Wembley.<ref name=eol/>

Pearce played at the [[1990 FIFA World Cup]], setting up a goal for [[David Platt (footballer)|David Platt]] in the quarter-final win against [[Cameroon national football team|Cameroon]] and operating as a more attacking left-back than normal as England deployed a sweeper system.<ref name="wcy">{{cite web | url=http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1990/qf_cmr_v_eng.html| title=World Cup 1990| publisher=www.planetworldcup.com | access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/cmpwc/CmpWC1990Squad.html | title=England in Italy 1990 | publisher=www.englandfootballonline.com | access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> England progressed to the semi-finals, and Pearce was one of two players (the other being [[Chris Waddle]]) to miss a penalty in the [[penalty shootout (football)|shoot-out]] against [[Germany national football team|West Germany]] after the match had ended in a 1–1 draw. Pearce left the field in tears.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/jun/27/stuart-pearce-england-germany-under-21s | title=Stuart Pearce unfazed by challenge of familiar foes Germany in U21 final | work=The Guardian | date=28 June 2009 | access-date=4 April 2014 | author=Hytner, David}}</ref>

The following summer, on 8 June 1991, Pearce scored his second England goal in a 2–0 win over [[New Zealand men's national football team|New Zealand]] during the England side's tour of Oceania. This game was his 40th appearance for England.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football/|title=Football photographic encyclopedia, footballer, world cup, champions league, football championship, olympic games & hero images by sporting-heroes.net|website=www.sporting-heroes.net}}</ref>

The [[UEFA Euro 1996|Euro 96]] games had been England's first competitive matches since the end of the World Cup qualifiers nearly three years earlier. They had not been required to qualify for the tournament due to being hosts. All of the matches played between November 1993 and June 1996 had been friendlies, including the clash with [[Switzerland national football team|Switzerland]] on 15 November 1995 in which Pearce scored the last of his five goals for England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.englandfc.com/Profiles/php/PlayerProfileByName.php|title=Player Profile<!-- Bot generated title -->|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716164734/http://www.englandfc.com/Profiles/php/PlayerProfileByName.php|archive-date=16 July 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> When [[Terry Venables]] became England coach later in 1994, Pearce lost his place to [[Graeme Le Saux]], but then regained it after Le Saux suffered a broken leg in December 1995. Pearce stayed in the side into Euro 96, scoring a penalty in a quarter-final shoot-out against [[Spain national football team|Spain]], which England won. His impassioned reaction following his successful penalty in front of the celebrating Wembley crowd became one of the images of the tournament.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/10/remembering-euro-96-gazzas-goal-three-lions-and-penalties-england | title=Remembering Euro 96: Gazza's goal, Three Lions ... and penalties | work=The Guardian | date=10 May 2020 | access-date=26 August 2020 | author=Simon Burnton}}</ref> He also scored in the semi-final shoot-out against Germany, but Germany again won after [[Gareth Southgate]] missed his spot-kick.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.uefa.com/under21/news/0254-0d7da3b618cb-de0b71254a0e-1000--stuart-pearce/ | title=Stuart Pearce | work=[[UEFA]] | access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref>

Pearce was not selected for the [[1998 FIFA World Cup|1998 World Cup]] by new coach [[Glenn Hoddle]], but the appointment of [[Kevin Keegan]] as Hoddle's replacement and Pearce's form for West Ham prompted a recall for the 37-year-old for two qualifying games for [[UEFA Euro 2000|Euro 2000]]. Pearce's broken leg later put paid to further international chances and he ended his international career in 1999 with 78 caps, which for a time put him in the all-time top ten for England appearances. Pearce's last appearance for England was in a goalless draw in [[Poland national football team|Poland]] on 8 September 1999 in the [[UEFA Euro 2000|Euro 2000]] qualifiers. At 37 years and 137 days, he was the third-oldest outfield player ever to appear for England (only [[Stanley Matthews]] and [[Leslie Compton]], plus five goalkeepers, have been older).

During his one match tenure, [[Peter Taylor (footballer, born 1953)|Peter Taylor]] appointed Pearce as [[Assistant coach|assistant manager]]. England played, and lost to, [[Italy national football team|Italy]] away in [[Turin]].