West Ham midfielder Stewart Downing felt after more than two years in the international wilderness his England career was over until his recall by coach Roy Hodgson. "It did go through my mind that I wouldn't play again.
"I was coming up to the age of 30, I was in a difficult situation at Liverpool and the main thing was to try and get into their team - never mind England. I got back into the team and my form started to pick up and the move to West Ham came at the right time for me.
"It was a difficult time in my career but every players goes through it. It was all about timing - Roy got the job and I went through a little bit of a dip in form. I'm just itching to play again now. I think Roy has been speaking to Sam Allardyce about my form."
