Michael Carrick - International Career

International Career

Carrick received his first call-up to the senior team in Sven-Göran Eriksson's first game in charge of England in February 2001. Despite being named in the 31-man squad to face Spain, he was an unused substitute in England's 3–0 victory on 28 February. Three months later he made his England debut, replacing David Beckham as a second-half substitute in a 4–0 friendly win over Mexico. His full debut came during their 2–1 victory over the United States on 28 May 2005. Three days later Carrick started again in a 3–2 victory over Colombia in the final game of their tour of the United States.

On 8 May 2006, Eriksson named Carrick in a 23-man provisional squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, eventually being named in the final 23-man squad for the tournament in Germany. He was an unused substitute for all three of England's Group B games as they advanced to the knockout stage. Carrick played just one game in the tournament, a 1–0 victory in the second round match against Ecuador on 25 June. The next game he was dropped to the bench for the quarter-final tie against Portugal, with Owen Hargreaves replacing him. The game ended goalless after extra-time, Portugal won 3–1 in the subsequent penalty shootout and knocked England out of the World Cup.

Carrick had been regularly overlooked by various England managers when it came to the central roles, with Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Gareth Barry generally being preferred. He started nine games under Sven-Göran Eriksson and his successor Steve McClaren. His last appearance under McClaren was in a 2–1 defeat at home to Germany in August 2007. Newly appointed manager Fabio Capello left Carrick out of his first England squad on 2 February 2008. During Capello's first year in charge of England Carrick was largely overlooked. However, he was named in Capello's squad for the game against the Czech Republic, but was forced to withdraw after sustaining an injury during Manchester United's game with Newcastle United. In November 2008 he returned to the squad for a friendly against Germany in Berlin. Starting alongside Gareth Barry in central midfield in England's 2–1 victory and was named by at least two sources as Man of the Match.

Despite playing just one game during England's 2010 World Cup qualification campaign, he was named in Capello's 30-man preliminary squad for the 2010 World Cup on 11 May 2010. He played 61 minutes of their 3–1 warm-up friendly win over Mexico before being replaced by Tom Huddlestone. On 2 June, Carrick was then named in the final 23-man squad to fly to South Africa for the tournament, before being given the squad number 22. During the World Cup Carrick failed to make it onto the pitch, remaining an unused member of the squad. England were eventually knocked out of the tournament as they lost 4–1 to Germany in their second round tie on 27 June.

On 6 August, Alex Ferguson claimed Carrick would be out for two weeks with an ankle injury and would miss England's friendly against Hungary the following Wednesday. Capello left Carrick out of the subsequent England squad only to arrive at Wembley and see him play 79 minutes of the Community Shield match. Capello made a 'call me' sign as Carrick walked past his seat to collect the winner's medal.

In May 2012, England manager Roy Hodgson said he left Carrick out of the 23-man squad and the standby list for the 2012 UEFA European Championships because he had previously told the Football Association that he did not want to be a bit-part player, although he could help the team "in extremis". On 10 August, Carrick was recalled to the England squad by Hodgson for a friendly match against Italy on 15 August. He played the full 90 minutes in the 2–1 victory over the Italians in Switzerland and also took over the captain's armband from Frank Lampard for the final 20 minutes.