Tottenham's Jermain Defoe feared for his England place after 'silly' red card

Jermain Defoe last night admitted he was worried about Fabio Capello’s reaction to his recent Spurs red card - but really concerned about what his mum would say!

Tottenham ace Defoe was sent off for stamping on Portsmouth’s Aaron Mokoena last month, forced to serve a three-game ban and missed Spurs’ costly defeats against Stoke and Arsenal.

But while the striker conceded Capello’s response to the act of reckless indiscipline was something he had to be wary of, it was the tongue-lashing he expected from mum Sandra that has made him determined not to be so stupid again.

Defoe, looking to make his first England start of 2009 against Brazil in Doha, said: “Of course I was worried about Fabio Capello's attitude to what I did.

“It’s a World Cup year next year so you want to try and do everything right. I don’t want to let myself down.

“Everything seemed to be going my way. I’d worked hard, got my goals. I don’t want to spoil it by getting sent off and doing silly things like that when I can avoid those situations.

“The England manager’s watching and he doesn’t want to see players getting sent off, even if he’s watching it on television.  

“He’s told us that keeping 11 players on the pitch is one of the most important things we have to do. He wants 11 players coming off the pitch at the end of the game. At this level, you can’t afford to be a man down. You just can’t.

“But my mum is my toughest critic. When I broke my finger and had to miss the games against Ukraine and Belarus she’d been giving me stick, telling me I couldn’t miss matches for a broken finger!

“And when I called her after the Portsmouth game and she asked me what I did. I said: 'You haven’t seen it – watch it on Match Of The Day'.

“She said she didn’t want to watch it because she’d give me a mouthful and she still hasn’t. I’m glad she didn’t see it, to be fair, because of what she would have said to me. But my Grandad saw it - and he really gave me a bit of stick.”

Defoe is clearly embarrassed and chastened by his actions and the consequences of what was his first red card in nearly six years since picking up three in as few months after West Ham’s 2003 relegation campaign.

At 27 now, Defoe believed he had matured in every sense, reflected with his eight goals in just 11 appearances for Capello, a tally only exceeded by Wayne Rooney under the Italian’s reign.

More important, perhaps, was the penny dropping. “I let my team-mates down,” he confessed. “And I told them and the manager that in the changing rooms.

“Maybe it happened because it was a big game, going back to my old club, and I was getting a bit of stick. Maybe I was just too fired up before the game.

“At that moment, it was just instinct. You want to win and you want to play well.

“Some people say it’s important to have that fire in your belly, but you’ve got to try and control it when people try and wind you up.

“I don’t know what I did, to be honest. Afterwards, I wondered what I’d done, what had happened. It was silly.

“I’m old enough to keep myself cool. I know what’s right and wrong. It definitely won’t happen again. It’s difficult. Everyone loses it.

“But I know it’s important to try and keep cool because we could have lost the game. It was out of character. I don’t even get booked any more, I try not to get involved or talk to the referee.

“So it was frustration but I know you can’t afford to do that, especially in a massive tournament.

“At that level, going down to 10 men, you give the other team the advantage and you could lose the game.

“You’d let your team-mates down, your country down, the manager and the staff. You have to be professional and keep a cool head. I can promise it won’t happen again.”

It was a vow that will be music to Capello’s ears. And also, of course, Sandra’s, desperate for her boy to finally play on the biggest stage of all after being wrongly and bizarrely overlooked by Sven Goran Eriksson in 2006.

Defoe added: “It was difficult last time. I was involved in every squad leading up to the World Cup so, in the back of your mind, you think you’re going.

“So when the squad was announced and I was on stand-by, it was a shock. I want to play and keep impressing the manager. I want to make sure I’m on the plane this time.”