Micah Richards is a name that is remembered all over England. He is a football pundit who used to play as a right-back for England. He has played several matches for English club Manchester City and won a lot of trophies with them. Micah’s skills were impressive and he was widely considered to be among the top defenders in the world.
The former footballer has just told everyone about a funny incident that happened during his first training session with England’s national football team.
Micah Richards discloses hilarious encounter with Gerrard
Micah Richards was selected to appear for England’s national team in 2006. At the time the player was only 18 years old making him the youngest player to receive a call-up to the squad. During his first training session with the team, Micah realized he had packed four left-footed boots. Having no other option the player turned to captain Steven Gerrard and asked to borrow his boots which led to a hilarious first encounter.
š“ó §ó ¢ó „ó ®ó §ó æ Micah Richards on his first England call-up:
šļø "I always took my own boots. So I had two pairs – a mould and a stud. I look in my bag and as I'm going down I realise I've brought four left feet. So then I go in the corridor and I see Steven Gerrard – it's the first time I'veā¦ pic.twitter.com/5ktVl7hlpv
— Football Tweet ā½īØ (@Football__Tweet) September 14, 2023
Micah told the whole story to the press saying “I always took my own boots. So I had two pairs – a mould and a stud. I look in my bag and as I’m going down I realise I’ve brought four left feet. So then I go in the corridor and I see Steven Gerrard – it’s the first time I’ve met him properly. I said, ‘Stevie, you can’t borrow us a pair of boots can you?’ Luckily we were a similar size. He gives me his boots, we go train – it’s the best training session I’ve ever had. So I said to Steven Gerrard afterwards ‘Can I have the boots?’ – he said ‘F*** off!’.”
Micah called the session “the best training session of his life” saying “I was making long-range passes, short, curling – I was taking free-kicks,”.
How did Micah Richards perform for the England national team?
Micah Richards made his debut for England’s national football team on 15 November 2006 in a friendly match against the Netherlands. The player was included in the first paying 11 after regular right-back Gary Neville suffered an injury. The match ended in a 1-1 draw but Richards’ performance was enough to get him a permanent spot in the team. The defender scored his first and last goal for the national team on 8 September 2007 against Israel in the UEFA EURO Qualifiers.
Micah’s career took a hit after Fabio Capello replaced Steve McClaren as manager. During the four years under Fabio, Micah was only used once as a substitute in a match against France in November 2010. He spoke about the issue after the manager was sacked in 2012 saying “To be frozen out of your international side is hard to take sometimes. Everyone wants to play for their international team, especially when you’re playing in a team that’s doing so well. I didn’t get a chance under Capello. I don’t know why. I always asked the question, but I never got an answer.”
Micah Richards made his final appearance for the national team in February 2012 and was later replaced by Phil Jones for the UEFA EURO 2012. He was also a part of the Great Britain Olympic football team for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The player finally hung the boots in 2019 and became a football pundit.
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