NIGEL REO-COKER praised Jamie Carragher for being the “nicest one” in the England squad back in 2006.
The former West Ham and Aston Villa man, 39, was named as a stand-by midfielder by Sven-Goran Eriksson for the World Cup 18 years ago.
Carragher, 46, was one of the main 23 players selected in the squad for the tournament in Germany.
And Reo-Coker has now hailed the Liverpool legend for how he treated him as a fringe player on the periphery of the Three Lions set-up.
Speaking on CBS Sports, he said: “Jamie, to be fair, when it was one of the World Cup squads [2006] and I got called up, you were the nicest one to me out of all those players there and I’ll never forget that.”
Carra hilariously responded to the comment by lifting his arms out aloft, while fellow pundit Micah Richards raged at the compliment.
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Ex-England right-back Richards replied: “That is definitely not true.”
Before Carra added: “I look after people.”
Yet despite Reo-Coker’s kind words, Carragher could not resist a sly dig.
He said: “You know why, Nige? You know why that was? Cos you found it really tough and you struggled didn’t ya?”
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Everyone in both the US and UK studios began laughing, before Carra added: “I’m only joking.”
Reo-Coker never ended up receiving an England cap despite playing 23 games for the Under-21s across a four-year period.
Carragher featured 38 times for England between 1999 and 2000.
He went to three major tournaments – Euro 2004 and the World Cups in 2006 and 2010 – but featured just six times across the three competitions.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
