In only his second season of first-team football at the Riverside Stadium, it has been a meteoric rise for Downing, who has been called-up to the England squad for the first time having narrowly missed out on selection for the match away to Spain in November last year.

"Most times Sven has been to watch me play I haven’t known he was there until afterwards," Downing says.

"That’s probably been a good thing because the one time I did know he was coming I got a bit nervous and would have preferred not to have known!

"People were talking about me before I was in the Middlesbrough team which I thought was a bit over the top at the time but since November, when I started to get in the team, I just hoped that if I could keep my consistency then I might have a chance of getting picked," Downing reveals.

Many football commentators believed that Downing would get the call for the Spain game, but instead Downing was involved with Peter Taylor's Under-21s.

 

"Just before the Spain game he pulled me to one side and told me that I was dead close to being in the squad. He just told me to keep doing what I was doing and that there was a game in February that I might have a chance of being involved in.

 

"The manager has been true to his word. He said that if I kept doing well then he would pick me. He said the same about Andy Johnson too and he’s done that now.

"I didn’t think it would make such an impression but everyone seems to go on about this left-sided thing. I just take everything in my stride really. If I get to play obviously I’ll be over the moon but if I don’t then I’ll just wait for my chance."

Downing has plenty of experience for England at various youth levels but how has he enjoyed his first taste of life with the Senior squad?

"It’s a little bit of a culture shock, I suppose," Downing says. "There is just so much attention on the England team. The world is looking at you.

 

"I’ve got to react to the opportunity in a positive way. I’ve got to play my normal game, do what I do best and hopefully impress the manager a little bit."

 

For more than ten years, England's left-sided problem has been a constant thorn in the side but with players like Downing coming through, the hope is that the future will see such problems banished to the past.

The lack of a player who has felt comfortable operating wide on the left has naturally affected England's balance and Downing is being tipped by many as the answer to the left of midfield.

"It’s definitely exciting to have the width," Downing says. "Previously David Beckham was the only wide player for England but now with both Shauny and me here it gives the manager the option of playing one of us or maybe two of us at a time, you never know.

"I think it’s good for England that the manager has those options.

"You don’t always have to beat a player to be able to create something though. The best player to look at in that regard is obviously Becks. He can whip it round a defender at any time and that’s very difficult to defend against."

However much the experience of being in the England squad may be new to him, the winger has been asking around for some inside information on the opposition.

"We’ve got a lot of Dutch lads at our club. Mike [Michael Reiziger] is there. I thought he might be picked for this game but he told me he’s now retired from international football.

"That’s probably plus for us actually as he’s not a bad player at all. We’ve also got Jimmy [Floyd Hasselbaink] and Bolo [Zenden] so I’ve been getting a lot of information about the team, including some details about the right back that might play for them."