England star turned down World Cup call because he ‘didn’t want to go’ | Football | Sport
Stephen Warnock and Joleon Lescott claim former team-mate Leighton Baines turned down the opportunity to represent England at World Cup 2010. The Everton legend, who hung up his boots in 2020, won 30 caps for his nation.
England are preparing for this year’s World Cup in North America, but 16 years ago, the Three Lions endured a tournament that proved memorable for all the wrong reasons. Fabio Capello’s squad toiled in the group stage in South Africa before being eliminated by Germany in the round of 16 under controversial circumstances. Former Liverpool defender Warnock was included in the squad as cover for Ashley Cole, but has confessed he did not believe he’d be chosen by Capello. The 44-year-old maintains that Baines was poised to travel but turned it down as he did not wish to be separated from his family.
Lescott, who played alongside Baines for Everton and England, agreed, despite the left-back denying it vigorously and insisting he was simply not selected by Capello, much to his disappointment.
Speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet, Warnock said: “I absolutely loved it and a lot of people talk about South Africa and how it was so remote and out of the way. I had a Carlsberg ticket. I was sat in the front row of every game.
“I was sat in the changing room listening to the best players try and work out how to beat a team, watching the players train at the highest level. Who wouldn’t want to be there?
“The thing was, I didn’t think I was going to go. We had two warm-up games. One of them we played Japan. I didn’t play in either. Ash [Cole] played in one and Bainsey played in the other.
“I thought, ‘I’m not going. That’s me done.’ Then I got a phone call when he got back…” Lescott interjected, guessing: “Bainsey didn’t want to go, did he? He said, ‘Nah, that ain’t for me.'” Warnock confirmed: “He didn’t want to be away from home.”
Lescott added: “Bainsey wasn’t on that. He didn’t like it. He was close to going to Bayern Munich. Like really close. They really wanted him. Desperately wanted Leighton Baines.”
Warnock said: “There was a point before I went to Villa, I was at Blackburn and Bainsey was going to go to Villa and I was going to go to Everton from Blackburn. But Bainesy was just like, ‘I don’t really fancy it.’ He didn’t want to move. I mean, a lot of Scousers are like that.”
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