Jamie Carragher last night admitted his England World Cup return is a one-hit wonder.

The Liverpool stalwart returned to the England set-up after a self-imposed three years in the international wilderness after a personal plea from Fabio Capello.

But the defender insisted his England comeback would end as soon as the World Cup adventure reached the end of the line.

Carragher said: "A few weeks ago I was asked if I would reconsider because there were a few injury problems.

"I said I didn't want to take anybody's place. A few weeks down the line those problems hadn't improved and I was asked and said I would.

"It was a shock for me. The first call came to my agent, Struan Marshall. He asked me 'guess who I've had a call from?' and I went through 10 names, finishing with my dad!

"Of course it was a boost to know a manager like Mr Capello still thinks you're good enough to play at that level.

"You go to bed that night wracking your brains. I thought about the situation of other players and how they would react if I came back into the squad.

"I'm not stupid; I wouldn't want it to happen to me, if there was another player who came back at the last minute and took my place when I'd been building up and involved for two years."

Carragher added: "Wes Brown and Joleon Lescott have injuries. There are also a couple of players who are in the squad, like Ledley King and Michael Dawson, who through different situations haven't been involved either over the last two years.

"But I've got a testimonial for Liverpool against Everton on September 4, when the European Championship qualifiers begin. Hopefully if I go to South Africa it's a one-off because the injury situation will have cleared up for next season."