Jamie Carragher knew his England career was over in car home from match and told Three Lions boss not to pick him
LIVERPOOL icon Jamie Carragher has recalled the moment he knew his England career was over.
The 46-year-old stepped back from international duty in 2007 to focus on his club career.
Carragher had earned over 30 caps for the Three Lions but decided to quit after being moved from centre-back to right-back prior to a match against Brazil.
The ex-defender opened up about his experience in the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast by Sky Bet and recalled the moment he told then-manager Steve McClaren.
He said: “The first game that England played in the new Wembley was against Brazil. All week in training I was in centre-back.
“Rio must’ve been out, so I was thinking to myself that I just played in the Champions League final, Liverpool’s player of the year.
“However, they get to the Friday and then I’m playing right-back suddenly and someone else was in centre-back. They played the game and, on the way, home in the car, I knew that I was done with England.
“We still had another game midweek, so we went home for the night and came back. But I knew I didn’t want to play anymore on that journey back.
“I came back for the second game, and then I wasn’t even right-back, it was Wes Brown instead which was fine but that’s when I was done.
“Steve McClaren came to me and said that he would play me the next game. I told him not to because it would feel fake, and I didn’t want that. If I’m being totally honest, I didn’t love being away.
FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS
“I was probably aged 29 then and I thought that if I’m not going away with England and I get myself ready for Liverpool, I can win that fight and finish my career at Liverpool. That was the biggest thing for me, to just stay at Liverpool.”
Carragher also admitted he was considered too small to be a centre-back throughout his career, which hindered his England hopes.
He added: “The problem that I think I have is that when people look at me, they don’t think centre-back. I’m quite small for a centre-back. Some people might have looked at me and thought otherwise.
“But if you look at England, Rio [Ferdinand] is 6’3 and lightning quick. Sol Campbell is massive. Even though I was playing well for Liverpool, my own stature and physicality probably didn’t help me in terms of picking me instead of someone else.
“I was always seen as the squad man at England. I could be a right-back, come in at centre-back or they could take an extra striker to fill in. I get that but my problem was when John Terry and Rio weren’t playing.
“I won the Champions League in 2005, in 2006 we kept 33 clean sheets. We [Liverpool] were tough to play against and were good defensively.
“I will never forget this. There’s four of us, and I remember either Rio or John Terry went down. There was panic on the bench, and someone shouted, “Sol get ready!” I was like, ‘F***ing hell’.”
Despite announcing his retirement in 2007, Carragher returned to the England set-up three years later due to injuries in the squad.
He appeared for the Three Lions at the 2010 World Cup but permanently retired after the tournament.