One of England’s current weaknesses is the goalkeeping position. Gone are the days of Banks, Clemence, Shilton and Seaman! The fact that the error-prone David James was resurrected as England’s no.1 following the brief reign of Paul Robinson suggests that options are not bountiful. James looked as suspect as ever over the qualifiers for 2010; he is undoubtedly a fine goalkeeper but his propensity to clangers is too well ingrained. It’s difficult not to conceive a tumultuous mishap occurring at some point in South Africa if James is between the sticks.
Robert Green looked safer than James over the qualifiers, although he remained fairly untested in games against Andorra and Kazakhstan. Green hasn’t had much luck for England: he was sent off against Ukraine but was unfortunate rather than foolhardy, as Rio Ferdinand had failed to deal with a long ball. Green was also injured when taking a goal-kick during a pre-World Cup game in 2006, which also led to a freak opposition goal. Green is a good goalkeeper and has a reasonable level of international experience to supplement his solid Premier League grounding. But it would feel more comfortable if England could field a goalkeeper that is both talented and lucky! Green was selected for the friendly against Egypt and thus appears to be Capello’s first choice. He should thus be donning the gloves for the first game against the USA.
Joe Hart is the young pretender and has been in excellent form for his club side Birmingham City (where he is on loan from Man City). However, he is uncapped and it would be difficult for him to be elevated suddenly to no.1 for the World Cup. Steve McClaren tried a similar approach before Euro 2008 with Scott Carson and it ended in disaster. Hart will probably make the squad for South Africa and should obtain his first cap in one of the pre-tournament friendlies.
Paul Robinson was England’s first-choice at World Cup 2006, but errors and media hullabaloo dented his confidence and he was replaced. He is back on good form with Blackburn Rovers, but the degree of pressure upon him during an international return would surely render him a liability. Ben Foster is the other option and has played well on the couple of occasions he has been called up by Fabio Capello. He has been touted as a future international no.1, but as he is presently Man Utd’s no.3 this further indicates England’s problematic goalkeeping situation. Of the outsiders, Chris Kirkland has one cap and injuries have prevented him from optimizing his potential. His injury prone nature means that he will probably be overlooked, but it should be noted that he managed to retain credibility even when Wigan were thumped 9-1 this season by Tottenham.
England may yearn for the halcyon days when well-regarded keepers in the top flight, such as Steve Ogrizovic and Tony Coton, remained uncapped as a result of the abundant competition. However, it could be that new footballs (which are excessively round) and dogged media scrutiny mean that contemporary goalkeepers are presented with a more difficult task than ever before.
WCC predicts that Robert Green, David James and Joe Hart will be selected this summer, with Green first choice. If any of these three can’t make it, then Paul Robinson should be next in line.