Jamie Carragher has admitted he could not turn down the chance to play for England again. Three years after announcing his retirement from the international scene, Carragher is back, trying to be one of the 23 players Fabio Capello will rely on to bring the World Cup back to the UK in July. It was a staggering about-turn, which Carragher accepts he never thought would happen, especially given comments in his autobiography highlighting how England's fortunes paled alongside those of his beloved Liverpool.
But, the 32-year-old accepts, with Liverpool's fortunes taking a nose-dive, and Capello making such a big impression since replacing Steve McClaren in December 2007, he started to look at the Three Lions in a whole new light. "I made my decision a few years ago for different reasons," he said. "This opportunity to try to get into the 23 has come up again now and was something I couldn't turn down.
"Fabio Capello is one of the best managers, not just the England team have had, but in world football over the past 10 or 15 years. "I was always asking Steven Gerrard what the manager was like when he came back from England duty. That was a massive reason behind it." While most assume that having persuaded the defender out of retirement there would be little point in Capello leaving him out in a fortnight, Carragher is taking nothing for granted.
And, at England's Austrian mountain hideaway in Irdning, he is eager to take any chance he gets to please his new coach. "The manager has never seen me before on a day-to-day basis," he said. "He doesn't know what I am like around the hotel and what I am like in training every day. He has seen me for Liverpool and maybe likes me as a player but it is different when you are in a squad. "It is difficult to guarantee anybody a place, especially someone in my position. Hopefully I can impress him on and off the pitch over the next two weeks and be part of that squad."
The manager's attention to detail is such that not only has he taken his players to a training camp at altitude to get them used to conditions similar to those they will face in South Africa, he has also provided them with oxygen masks, to help their systems adjust that bit quicker. "You wear them five minutes on and five minutes off for about an hour," said Carragher. "It is beneficial for the players and hopefully we will see that in South Africa." * PA
