The 31-year-old's first call-up to the
international team followed his wife giving
birth to his first daughter and third child, on
what the striker called a 'special day' Southampton striker Rickie Lambert had a day to remember on Thursday after his first England call-up followed the birth of his first daughter.
The 31-year-old welcomed Bella Rose into the
world at 4:30 in the morning, only to find out he
was in Roy Hodgson's squad hours later.
He told the club's official website: "It's been a
special day and I'm trying to absorb what's happened. It's hard to describe how I'm feeling,
if I'm being honest. Today has been a bit of a
blur because there are a few things that have
happened in my life and I'm trying to take them
in.
"I was obviously already over the moon about the birth of my daughter - she was born at
half-past-four this morning, and she's doing
fine and so is the mother. And I'm absolutely
delighted to be involved with England. It's the
dream I've been fighting for and hoping for all
my life. "I don't think I'll be forgetting this [day] any
time soon."
Lambert's journey to the England squad has
been a long one. Spells at Blackpool,
Macclesfield, Stockport, Rochdale and Bristol
Rovers preceded his move to the Saints in 2009.
His goals helped them move up the leagues
eventually into the Premier League, where he
continued to find the net, finishing joint-top
English goalscorer with Frank Lampard with 15
goals. Lambert continued: "For most of my career I
didn't think it'd ever happen but, for the last
year or so, I thought there might be a slight
chance so to get the call-up has been a dream
come true.
"I'm over the moon just to be involved, but I want to make a claim and show that I'm here
for the future. Obviously I understand my age
means I'm not going to be there for the long
term, but I am hoping that I can bring
something to the squad over the next year or
so. "I am just concentrating on being at the top of
my game, and if I can help [England] then that'll
be brilliant."
England manager Roy Hodgson was thrilled to
name him in his squad, and had at one point
considered signing him when he was in charge of Fulham.
He is under no illusions the task ahead of the
striker, but is delighted he can offer the
opportunity to him
Hodgson said: "He deserves it because he has
ploughed a very difficult furrow to get this far and wherever he has gone he has done
extremely well.
"If Rickie Lambert can help us qualify, I will
quite happily turn a blind eye to the fact that he
is 32 at that time because it's not age that
plays football, it's human beings."
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