On 14 November 2012, Ryan Shawcross made his England debut when he came on as a substitute in a friendly game against Sweden at the new Friends Arena in Stockholm. The match ended 4-2 in favour of the home side with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring all four goals.
Shawcross was on the pitch when the Swedish striker scored that goal which saw him take home the FIFA Puskas award for Goal of the Year. Pouncing on a loose clearance from Joe Hart, Ibrahimovic launched himself into the air 30 yards away from goal and went for a bicycle-kick that saw the ball loop over everyone and land inside the goal.
It was a humiliating night for England. And Shawcross? The man who tried to make the goal-line clearance to prevent the goal and failed never played for England again.
“I’m the butt of the joke in my family,” Shawcross told Telegraph. “Just because the 10 minutes I had in international football was ruined by one man.
“They are consistently saying that Zlatan ruined my career! I had a chance and I don’t think many other defenders 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.”
It is not that Shawcross has been poor since that night in Sweden. This season saw him come back to form in the Premier League following a back operation and helped Jack Butland and co from conceding a goal for 542 minutes at a stretch. But Roy Hodgson has still not called him up and time is running out for the 28-year-old with Euro 2016 fast approaching.
“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,” Shawcross explains.
“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.”
Horror tackle on Ramsey did not change Shawcross’s approach
Back in 2010, Shawcross almost ended a young Aaron Ramsey’s career with a tackle that broke the Welsh midfielder’s leg above the ankle. The red card was immediate and Shawcross could not escape the fans’ ire for years after.
“It probably affected my persona in public,” Shawcross admitted. “You seem to get labelled quickly and it sticks sometimes. It was an accident and it wasn’t me who had the broken leg. So no one should feel sorry for me.”
“There are lots of columns written about me, for some reason,” he continued. “And it’s never about how well I’m playing and usually it’s about me kicking people or how I play. I would never say I was the cleanest player but my disciplinary record is not too bad.
“It didn’t make me change my game but with experience you change. The older I’ve got the more I’ve realised that if you use your head more you don’t have to make rash tackles. With experience comes knowledge of the game and how not to get into those situations.”
