A year to remember

Wesley Foderingham has experienced an extraordinary year culminating in him being in South Korea for the U17 World Cup.

Less than 12 months after making his debut for the U16s, the Fulham keeper was included in a squad of 21 players for the showpiece event. As if this year wasn't grandiose enough, he has also played at Wembley in front of 28,000.

But how different things could have been had Foderingham not decided to ditch his dream of being a scoring goals in favour of stopping them.

"I was a striker," recalled the 16 year old. "I was pretty good too. I was fast and had a good left foot. But one day I went in goal for my local Sunday League team, Excel. I enjoyed it though, especially diving around and getting dirty. I was better in goal."

The young Foderingham soon moved to a team called Westway, highly regarded in West London, and it was a switch which reaped rich dividends. A coach at the club, who was also a scout for Fulham, spotted Foderingham's raw talent and in no time he was on trial with the Premier League club.

"I did not think anything of it," said Foderingham, who names David James as his hero. "I did not know they were talking about the professional club. It was great though. The facilities were amazing."

After just a day's training, Foderingham kept goal against Wolves, a game which Fulham won 7-2.

"I did pretty well and had to make loads of saves," he recalled. "But there were loads of things I had to work on - foot movement, the way I caught the ball, distribution and my diving technique. I just used to land on my chest."

Fulham were impressed and after a six week trail, which was extended by two weeks, they signed up Foderingham a day before his tenth birthday.

He's come a long way since then, progressing through the youth ranks at Fulham before getting international recognition two years ago, being called up for an U16 training camp.

But he had to wait 12 months for his England debut, which came against Wales in the Victory Shield last October.

"To be honest, I was waiting for the letter to come through," he said through a mischievous smile.

"I was nervous before the game. It finished 1-1 and I thought I did OK. I was playing the ball out from the back, just like Tony Parks [goalkeeping coach] told me to. But their goal did not look too good for me when I saw the replay on TV."

Foderingham was on the bench for the Victory Shield decider, which England won 2-1, but there was another highlight on the horizon.

"I read in the paper that the U16s might be playing at Wembley against Spain," he said. "I thought it was going to be next year's U16s. But I was buzzing when I found out it was my group and that I was in the squad. It was a long wait for the game."

Foderingham was named in the starting line-up that April afternoon, keeping a clean sheet until he was substituted at half-time to give Declan Rudd the chance to experience a game at Wembley.

"I was not nervous for that game," insisted Foderingham. "I was used to playing with the team and was comfortable with the back-four.

"One thing that didn't help was just before we were about to go out, Jacob Mellis told me I should not wear my boots as I would shank a kick and they would score.

"I didn't change them, but what happened with my first kick? I shanked it straight to their striker. How could he have predicted that? We won 1-0 though."

But the teenager's star remained in the ascendancy and a few months later he was named in the provisional squad of 30 for the U17 World Cup, despite being a year younger than the rest of his team-mates.

It got better when he was selected in the final 21 by Head Coach John Peacock.

"I was shocked," he said. "I did not expect to be in the provisional squad. But it's been great being here. It's good training with players who are more experienced than me.

"I get on well with the other two keepers, Jason Steele and Alex Smithies. We encourage each other which is important."

Foderingham added that being in South Korea will be invaluable for his goalkeeping education.

"It's brilliant experience being out here. Even if I don't play, it will make me a better goalkeeper."