During 2008, Fabio Capello awarded caps to 35 players in ten games as England won eight, drew one and lost one. Today we look at the current holder of the England Player of the Year title, Steven Gerrard...
Age 28
Date of Birth 30.05.80
Caps in 2008 7 Goals 2
Career Caps 70 Goals 14
Liverpool
Even before Steven Gerrard had kicked a ball for England in 2008 he was picking up some silverware.
The Liverpool skipper was presented with the 2007 Nationwide England Player of the Year trophy two days before The Three Lions took on Switzerland at Wembley.
Gerrard topped the poll of 42 England players with 22% of the vote to claim the award.
Two days later, in front of nearly 89,000 fans, Gerrard led England out for the first game of the Fabio Capello era as they beat the Swiss 2-1, and it was his cross that Shaun Wright-Phillips directed into the net to win the match.
Gerrard was on the score sheet himself in May as England beat USA 2-0 at Wembley when he rounded off a fine move after latching on to Gareth Barry's pass to slide home.
A groin operation meant that Gerrard missed the two September World Cup qualifiers, but he was back in the side for the comprehensive victories over Kazakhstan and Belarus.
In Minsk he scored his second of the year to put England 1-0 up, and after Belarus levelled and Rooney had restored the lead, Gerrard set-up the Manchester United forward to seal a 3-1 win.
Seven caps and two goals in 2008 took his overall tally for The Three Lions to an impressive 14 strikes in 70 outings.
Quotes
""It's a fantastic honour (to win the Player of the Year), coming from the fans makes it very special to me - I'm really proud." Steven Gerrard
"I think he is an important player for England, according to my plans. He is a player who can pass on and transmit things to other players and inspire them." Fabio Capello
"We're certainly not getting carried away. We realise there are still a lot of hurdles to get over, so we are going to take each game as it comes." Steven Gerrard