DAVID WHEATER was just 10 when Robert di Matteo broke the collective heart of Teesside. That he was sat directly behind the goal that settled an FA Cup final after just 43 seconds has merely heightened the archetypal Boro boy’s desire to return to Wembley, to make amends, 11 years on. Others preparing in the Riverside dressing room today to move one step closer to the new Wembley may be unaware of Boro’s rich modern history in domestic cup competitions. Unaware that in the seven years before they lifted the Carling Cup at Cardiff, the Teessiders marched on Wembley three times. Yes, three times they were defeated, including twice in two months in 1997. But it took a piece of history – courtesy of Chelsea’s Di Matteo – to beat them second time around. “I went to the FA Cup final at Wembley and I was right behind Matteo’s shot,” says Wheater. “It flew in, didn’t it? When was it, 97? I was 10. “It was a big family weekend out. Some of my family are from down there so we spent the weekend down there. “It was a quality day out and it’s what I want to do this season, but I want to go back there and win. We want to go one better this time.” Plenty of other, bigger-spending clubs must look on Boro’s cup capers with both envy and surprise. But Wheater adds: “There is something about the FA Cup and the Carling Cup that brings Middlesbrough supporters alive. “And this year’s FA Cup has been the most open competition people have seen for a long time. It is a good chance for us.” Talking of chances, no one in the Premier League has taken theirs quite like Wheater has this season. A year after a loan spell – albeit an impressive one – at Darlington, he has become one of the most talked about centre-halves in England. Not that when a certain Fabio Capello mentioned his name ahead of England’s friendly against Switzerland last month, the 21-year-old didn’t have to pick himself up off the floor. “It was quality when he was talking about me. It was marvellous,” Wheater reflects. “I phoned my dad straight away and said: ‘Fabio said my name!’ “I was sat in my front room watching the television. It was fall off the chair time. I was like: ‘Woopee!’” But it’s a sign of his growing self-assurance on and off the pitch that Wheater wasn’t happy for the matter to end there. “I thought I might get in the team (against Switzerland),” he reveals. “I was playing well enough and Fabio said I might have been in the squad if I wasn’t with the Under-21s in an important qualifier. “I know if I am playing well I can get in the team.” Better still, he can get in the team while with Middlesbrough. “I feel I can achieve my England ambitions here,” insists Wheater. “Stewy (Downing) has shown the way. He’s been in the England team for a few years. “I don’t see any reason why not. Capello will see games or he will have a scout at games. I just have to keep playing well.” But first things first. And first for Wheater, as they have all his life, come Boro. “England might be on your mind before you play a game but you don’t really think about it during a game for Middlesbrough. “All you need to do is play well and I don’t see any reason why me, Luke Young and Stewy can’t get in the England team. “It was fantastic to watch Stewy with England. I was sat in a pub during the World Cup and he was a sub. “It was fantastic to see your mate getting on in the World Cup. I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ ” But back to today. Back to the cup. And back to Wheater’s wish to exorcise the memory of that Di Matteo screamer. Manchester United and, of course, Chelsea remain in the competition. But Boro’s new local hero is nothing if not a realist . . . “Bristol Rovers in the final would be nice!” | 
