As far as meaningless international friendlies go, England’s 4-2 defeat at the hands of Sweden is one of the more memorable ones.
Of course, this was the night that a bang in form Zlatan Ibrahimovic took the p*ss out of the English defence, capping his four goal-haul with a stupendous long-range bicycle kick.
Stoke City’s Ryan Shawcross appears to have more vivid memories of the evening than most.
Shawcross has been brought on to the field of play for the game’s final 16 minutes. At this point, Zlatan had only scored one of his four goals.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Shawcross has revealed how he is frequently reminded of his performance that night by friends and family.
“I’m the butt of the joke in my family, just because the 10 minutes I had in international football was ruined by one man,” he explains.
“They are consistently saying that Zlatan ruined my [England] career! I had a chance and I don’t think many other defenders would have stopped him.
“I was given 10 minutes to show what I could do and probably didn’t provide a good enough performance. I was against one of the best strikers in the world who was on a hot streak at the time and these things happen.”
Three years on from that night in Stockholm, and Shawcross is yet to wear the England shirt again, overlooked once more as Roy Hodgson named his squad for friendlies against Germany and Holland.
Unsurprisingly, he’s not too optimistic about getting a seat on the plane to France in the summer.
“I’ve been playing well for the last three or four years and I don’t seem to be getting in so I can’t see it changing in the future unless the manager changes,” he adds.
“It’s just the way football is, some managers like players that others don’t. At the moment it’s either that he doesn’t think I’m up to it or the lads he’s picking are better than me. That’s fine.
“Is that unfair? Yes, but it’s a ruthless game. You do find that the lads who move to the bigger clubs get more recognition. They play in Europe and there’s a lot more prestige around them.
“But my performances on the pitch for Stoke have been good enough to get in the England team and so far the call hasn’t come.”
Thanks a bunch, Zlatan.
Still – at least there’s no chance of the Swede heading to the Premier League any time soon… or is there?
