Matt On Look-Out For A Way In

Even former England footballers have to take their chances and try to call in favours from friends when the big tournaments come around.

Ok, Matt Jarvis’s active career in the Three Lions was confined to 20-odd minutes as a substitute in a Wembley friendly against Ghana but it’s there in the record books and he has the cap.

As he planned his first visit to a World Cup, though, he was somewhat in the dark about whether he would actually make it inside any of the stadia.

“We don’t have any tickets but we’re hoping to pick some up when we are on the ground over there in New York,” he told Wolves Heroes. “Otherwise, it will be fan parks and bars.

“Ashley Cole lives quite close to us down here, a few minutes from the Chelsea training ground, and he said he would see if he could help us get any tickets.

“But we are going for the experience really. I have never been to New York and never been to any World Cup matches, so it’s all new and exciting.”

Jarvis’s sole England appearance came in March, 2011, around 18 months before the end of a Molineux stay of 175 games that made Wolves by far the longest stop-off of his club career.

He went on for Jack Wilshere in the 70th minute of a 1-1 draw against one of our 2026 group rivals that made him Wolves’ first senior England international since Steve Bull 20 years before.

He had also been an unused member of the squad for the European Championships qualifier against Wales four days earlier. Alas, such recognition does not automatically open doors to the greatest football show on earth.

So why now for this toe in the water? Jarvis started to outline his summer plans when working as a Radio 5Live co-commentator at the West Ham v Leeds game on the last day of the Premier League season and told us more when we made contact with him.

“There are four of us schoolmates who have all turned 40 quite recently, so we’re going away for six days to celebrate,” he added.

“There are two matches in New York while we are there – Brazil v Morocco (last Saturday) and France v Senegal (tonight) – so we will see what we can do.

“I have had a couple of football trips to America in the past. I went with West Ham to a seniors tournament in North Carolina, where Wolves were taking part as well, and was still a Norwich player at what I remember mainly as a training camp in Tampa.

“Neill Collins and Kevin Foley were working together in Tampa at the time, so it was great to go and find them out.”

And, now Jarvis is in the supporter ranks and retired as a player, we felt able to ask him which club, apart from those he graced, has his affections. “I’m from Guildford in Surrey,” he laughed, “so i grew up as a Manchester United fan, of course!”

Well, as the photograph on the left shows, there was a happy ending to the story. He made it into yesterday’s France v Senegal clash.