Before Emile Heskey roused Wembley by seriously disturbing the equilibrium of Argentina's defenders in Wednesday's scoreless friendly, the last Leicester striker to make an impact for England had announced himself with a goal against the Republic of Ireland in the same stadium in March 1985.
Gary Lineker started as he meant to go on. Until then his only appearance had been as a substitute against Scotland the previous May and he was to win three more caps coming off the bench before Bobby Robson gave him a regular place.
Should Heskey play for his country 80 times while scoring 48 goals, Wednesday's performance will really turn out to have been the start of something big. For the moment, however, Kevin Keegan would settle for a reprise in one of his three remaining warm-up matches before Euro 2000 accompanied by an improved end product.
Lineker spent the early part of his England career alongside Mark Hateley or Kerry Dixon. It was not until he linked up with Peter Beardsley that the prolific possibilities of playing two medium-sized strikers began to emerge. For now any similarity between Heskey and Lineker is not so much coincidental as invisible.
Lineker was a born finisher, a natural taker of goals; Heskey is more of a hunter, beating about the bushes and disturbing prey but not yet a gifted marksman. If he has a role to play for England in Euro 2000, it will principally involve extending the international career of Alan Shearer. Shearer's revived scoring form at Newcastle in regular partnership with Duncan Ferguson has encouraged the hope that he will have a better tournament at Euro 2000 than he did in the 1998 World Cup. Then again Heskey's speed and aggression did see off the experienced Roberto Sensini 10 minutes before half-time, Marcelo Bielsa, the Argentine coach, deciding that Mauricio Pochettino's extra pace was needed.
From an English point of view this alone made Wednesday's exercise worthwhile. By playing so well Heskey has established himself as a firm option for Keegan should Michael Owen or Robbie Fowler not be fit.
In the meantime it would be useful to see how Heskey and Kevin Phillips play together. No sooner did Phillips come on as a substitute than Heskey went off.
Keegan's problem is that realistically he only has the match against Brazil on May 27th to have a look at alternatives before naming his squad of 22 for Euro 2000 straight after the Ukraine friendly four days later. But since the coach reckons he will need five strikers, Heskey and Phillips will probably be selected.
The consistent quality of Dennis Wise's passes has also raised the interesting possibility of Chelsea's ageing enfant terrible becoming the fulcrum of England's midfield, although defensively Wise was rarely tested.
Overall England's passing and movement showed a distinct improvement but playing David Beckham in central midfield restricts his immaculate service from the flanks to set-pieces.
