Carragher calls on England to take leaf out of ’Pool’s book
England’s Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch all played their part in Rafael Benitez’s side coming from 2-0 and 3-2 down against West Ham to eventually lift the trophy after penalties last week.
Carragher knows there may be similar occasions in Germany when England will be facing an uphill struggle to lift football’s most coveted prize for the first time in 40 years.
But he recognises the need to go through the pain barrier when the going gets tough as did several Liverpool players suffering from cramp against the Hammers.
Carragher said: “Is the intensity of the FA Cup final ideal preparation for a World Cup game? Yes I think so.
“The FA Cup is fought out every year and the World Cup takes place every four years – but who knows when you’re going to be in an FA Cup final again?
“In a World Cup game, if there’s 20 minutes to go and the score’s not going right, you know it could be another four years before you get another opportunity – and some players at the end of their careers may never get the chance again.
“It does then become a life and death thing where you’ve just got to give it everything – and credit to us at the weekend, with how many players went down with cramp and yet we kept going and got there in the end.”
“There are times when it’s going to be tough and you are going to be up against it but if England are going to win this World Cup it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be tough at times and you will have to bite the bullet.
“In the World Cup there’ll be teams we’ll come up against where England may be slight underdogs and if you’re down you’ve just got to go for it.
“It could be similar to the Brazil game in the last World Cup, where everyone says we maybe should have done a bit more towards the end of the game to try to rescue it.
“If we’re in that situation again obviously we will have to do more but there is a lot of quality and resolve in this squad of players.
“There are a lot of stand-out teams in the World Cup but I believe we are as good as most if not all and want to give it a real good go.”
The Liverpool and Arsenal players, who suffered Champions League final heartbreak against Barcelona, will not have the four-week break demanded by Sven-Goran Eriksson at the end of the season.
But Eriksson has still been able to give them a few days off before they report for England duty next week.
Eriksson said: “I spoke to Frank Lampard and he had nine or 10 days off and said that was very good physically but much more important mentally, to take football away from the head for some days.
“That is very important. It’s very difficult to go from the Premier League, FA Cup or the Champions League, to jump on the preparations for a World Cup, without any break at all. Four years ago the FA Cup final was played at the weekend and on the Monday we went to Dubai with no time in between.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
