He started nine games under Sven-Göran Eriksson and his successor Steve McClaren. His last appearance under McClaren was in a 2–1 defeat at home to Germany in August 2007. Newly appointed manager Fabio Capello left Carrick out of his first England squad on 2 February 2008. During Capello's first year in charge of England Carrick was largely overlooked. However, he was named in Capello's squad for the game against the Czech Republic, but was forced to withdraw after sustaining an injury during Manchester United's game with Newcastle United. In November 2008, he returned to the squad for a friendly against Germany in Berlin. Starting alongside Gareth Barry in central midfield in England's 2–1 victory, he was named as Man of the Match by the BBC. Despite playing just one game during England's 2010 World Cup qualification campaign, he was named in Capello's 30-man preliminary squad for the 2010 World Cup on 11 May 2010. He played 61 minutes of their 3–1 warm-up friendly win over Mexico before being replaced by Tom Huddlestone. On 2 June, Carrick was then named in the final 23-man squad to fly to South Africa for the tournament, before being given the squad number 22. During the World Cup Carrick failed to make it onto the pitch, remaining an unused member of the squad. England were eventually knocked out of the tournament as they lost 4–1 to Germany in their second round tie on 27 June. On 6 August, Alex Ferguson claimed Carrick would be out for two weeks with an ankle injury and would miss England's friendly against Hungary the following Wednesday. Capello left Carrick out of the subsequent England squad only to arrive at Wembley and see him play 79 minutes of the Community Shield match. Capello made a 'call me' sign as Carrick walked past his seat to collect the winner's medal. In May 2012, England manager Roy Hodgson said he left Carrick out of the 23-man squad and the standby list for UEFA Euro 2012 because he had previously told The Football Association that he did not want to be a bit-part player, although he could help the team "in extremis". On 10 August, Carrick was recalled to the England squad by Hodgson for a friendly match against Italy on 15 August. He played the full 90 minutes in the 2–1 victory over the Azzurri in Switzerland and also took over the