Theo Walcott became England’s youngest international in a 3-1 friendly victory over Hungary at Old Trafford on this day in 2006.
Introduced as a substitute, replacing Michael Owen in the 65th minute, the forward, aged 17 years and 75 days, beat Wayne Rooney’s previous record of 17 years and 111 days.
Walcott’s debut for the #ThreeLions came in May 2006, coming off the bench to replace @themichaelowen in a 3-1 win against Hungary at Old Trafford. pic.twitter.com/Tn87MdLRgw— England (@England) October 31, 2020
In their penultimate warm-up game ahead of the 2006 World Cup, England saw a penalty from Frank Lampard saved just before half-time.
Steven Gerrard and John Terry headed in from David Beckham free-kicks as England scored twice in three minutes early in the second half.
Hungary skipper Pal Dardai pulled one back from long range, before Peter Crouch added a late third for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side.
Walcott was a shock selection by Eriksson for the 2006 World Cup squad, but did not play in Germany, where England were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Portugal.
In September 2008, Walcott became the youngest England player to score a hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Croatia in Zagreb – but was a surprise omission from Fabio Capello’s squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
A serious knee injury saw Walcott ruled out of contention for the 2014 World Cup, and his last England appearance came in a friendly against Spain during November 2016.
Walcott left Arsenal to join Everton in January 2018, before returning to the Saints, initially on loan ahead of a permanent move ahead of next season.
