Richards: Hardest thing I've ever done(FIFA.com) Tuesday 6 March 2012 Print Email my friend Share For the past 18 months, Micah Richards was feted as being the best English right-back in the Premier League. Yet former England coach Fabio Capello disagreed, preferring Glen Johnson of Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur’s Kyle Walker ahead of the Manchester City man. Following Capello’s resignation, Richards’ former club manager Stuart Pearce gave him an instant recall to the squad and to the Three Lions’ starting XI. Speaking to FIFA.com following the 3-2 defeat by the Netherlands at Wembley, the 23-year-old spoke of his international exile and his subsequent redemption. “It’s felt like another debut, I really enjoyed it,” said the player who coincidentally made his international debut against the same side in 2006. “Obviously the result was disappointing and it wasn't great to be part of a defence which conceded three goals, but I gave my all. Obviously the Netherlands are a top team, they were World Cup finalists in 2010, but I don’t think we’re too far away from them.” Richards’ show of confidence was a marked difference to the player who was overlooked for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. An England regular under Steve McClaren, he was limited to a single substitute appearance under Capello’s reign, with last Wednesday’s match marking his first England start in almost four and a half years. "This has given me hope,” he said, smiling. “I've been playing more for Manchester City in the last 18 months and a lot of people have been asking me why I'm not in the squad. When you're an England regular at such a young age and then get knocked down to the U-21s, it's as low as you can go. Fighting my way back is the hardest thing I've ever done. "[Capello] didn't really give me any idea why he didn't pick me. He never said anything to me. He never said anything at all about it. That's just the puzzling thing about it. If he'd said, 'I don't think you're good going forward' or 'I don't think you're good defensively' [it would have been easier]. I just wanted an answer, but I didn't get one. I didn't try to ask him. "When you come here you just get on with your job. You're not going to ask the boss why you're not playing, especially when you've got massive names in the dressing room. You just have to get on with it.""When you're an England regular at such a young age and then get knocked down to the U-21s, it's as low as you can go"-->>>Micah Richards, England defender.
Fifa.com
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