Robert Green's progress with England is praiseworthy but that advance also shows how goalkeeping resources have declined. There are no glamorous candidates. Fabio Capello is bound to be an elitist and of his preferred outfield line-up until now eight of the 10 players were involved in the Champions League last season. Aaron Lennon will experience the competition in the next campaign, assuming Tottenham Hotspur come through a qualifier. Emile Heskey is the exception of sorts. He last appeared on that front with Liverpool in November 2002.
When Capello goes looking for goalkeepers the manager must watch some of the less prominent clubs. David James came bottom of the table with Portsmouth. Green's West Ham claimed the last place of safety in the Premier League. His fitness held up better than that of James and he was spared only one of the 38 matches in a trying campaign. It is as well that Green is a strong character with an independent cast of mind. Capello's first England game was in February 2008 but a year passed before the Italian picked him.
At least Green is not the sort to mope. While being emphatically ignored, he had the words "England's number 6" embroidered on his gloves for a match with Birmingham. He is much too intelligent to tease Capello and made it very clear that he had been mocking the obscurity of his candidacy at that stage. "I don't know where they are," he now says of the gloves. "It's a long way away in a chronological and metaphorical sense."
Dire circumstances have since worked in his favour. Others have suffered from injury or dwindling form and Green has made the most of that opportunity. He even had a bearing on the outcome of Monday's win over Mexico when twice denying Carlos Vela.
"Fortunately he's kicked them straight at me," said Green with a wise modesty, "but it is pleasing to make saves when you're needed. In international football chances don't come along as often as in Premier League football, so you know if you can make saves, it is an important moment in a game because you are not going to make as many chances up the other end to make amends if they score."
He comes across as the man under review by Capello that he probably is. While James is expected to start in Sunday's friendly with Japan in Graz, it is conceivable Green will get some time as well. The manager seems to regard Joe Hart as a long-term prospect.
The idea that a decision about the goalkeeper is still to be made or, more likely, made public has certain overtones. It is faintly evocative of the 1970s and the weak-minded alternating between Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence. Capello is unlikely to follow that example but for the time being Green and James are in the dark.
"I think it's a fairly unique position," said the West Ham goalkeeper. "Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, we're yet to find out. I'm sure we're pushing each other as much as we can. Whoever is going to be playing is going to be playing well because he's kept the other guys out of the side. The other two guys are going to have to support and encourage him. I'm sure that is what will happen come the first game against the USA."
The traditions endure and that remark about helping whoever is picked smacks of the camaraderie of goalkeepers, who usually suppose that outfield players and managers have minimal insight into their line of work. However, Green and James are also competitors. At 30 the West Ham player is nine years younger but the age of a rival is not such a great consideration for this post. It is merely the knee trouble and other aches that ensure Capello will keep a close eye on James in training. Specialist advice is also available from the goalkeeping coaches Franco Tancredi and Clemence.
Green will appreciate that it has been a challenge to persuade managers that he is cut out for the England job. When Capello turned to him at last it was almost four years after the single previous cap he had been awarded against Colombia in 2005. At least complacency will not undermine him. "We've got a big game on Sunday," he said. "If I'm playing, then great; if I'm not playing, then I'll be ready. That's the most you can do. The opportunities come few and far between in international football to impress, so I just want to be prepared to take each chance when I can."
Green fielded questions about the difficulties posed by the 2010 World Cup ball and its behaviour at altitude. "They're a lot more plasticy than previous balls and guys are encouraged to shoot from distance," he said. "We'll have to see how it develops because obviously we're going to be a lot higher and being in stadiums is a lot different from being in mountains in Austria [at the training camp]. As problems go, it's not the worst thing to happen in the world, so we'll just deal with it."
The immediate challenge is for Green or James each to try and take a tight grip on the goalkeeping duties with England. There may be more doubt about Capello's verdict there than in any other decision. This seemingly banal friendly with Japan could well seem like a key moment in Green's life.
© Guardian News and Media 2010
