Carragher braces himself for a hostile Wembley

Jamie Carragher says he will understand if he receives a hostile reception from England fans in the friendly against Mexico at Wembley on Monday evening, when he makes his return to international football three years since winning his last cap.

The Liverpool defender, officially retired from international football two years ago, wrote in his autobiography that he "would rather miss a penalty for England than for Liverpool", and that "losing with England never hurt in the same way as losing with my club".

England fans have booed Terry, Ashley Cole and David Bentley in recent games and Carragher has admitted he is not expecting an easy ride.

"Better players than me have been booed by supporters," he said. "If it happens I won't have any problem with it because I know that if Liverpool had a player who left the club and came back three years later, there would be some fans that wouldn't be happy with him.

"These things can take a bit of time so I will understand if the reaction at Wembley isn't that fantastic."

Capello has asked England's fans to support Carragher tomorrow night in their last game at Wembley before the finals. The England manager is an admirer of Carragher's on-pitch leadership and tactical versatility and made four previous efforts to persuade the 32-year-old defender to come out of retirement.

Carragher, who was motivated by the chance to work with Capello, insists that his return was not made on condition of him being part of the squad for South Africa. "I haven't been given any guarantees about a place in the 23," he said.

"The manager knows me from playing for Liverpool so he probably watches me once every three weeks throughout the season. But he doesn't know what I'm like around the hotel, what I'm like on the training pitch; he doesn't know me well enough to guarantee anything.

"I have joined up with the squad in the hope that I do what I do for Liverpool and the manager deems it good enough to warrant a place at the World Cup."

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