Iconic Moments in Football No.31
Robert Green’s international career will mostly be remembered for this blooper in the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.
Although the goalkeeper was 12 capped times for England over the course of his career, this group stage game will live long in fan’s memories.
In fact, if you type his name into YouTube, the first thing that appears in the predicted text is ‘mistake World Cup 2010’.
The blooper happened in England’s first game against USA. England coach Fabio Capello kept his cards close to his chest, only announcing Green as his choice for the game on the day of the game.
Steven Gerrard fired England ahead after only four minutes and this is how the score stayed until the 40th minute.
USA’s Clint Dempsey hit a speculative shot from 25 yards out and Green dived down to his right to stop the shot. It was a weak effort that should have been easy for the West Ham goalkeeper.
Green let the ball squirm out of his grasp and as it rolled past him, he tried to grab the ball but the ball had already crossed the line.
Green had a good career, spending his entire career in the top two divisions of English football. He played in over 600 league games for Norwich City, West Ham United, QPR and Leeds United. At the end of his career he signed as back up for both Huddersfield Town and Chelsea but never made a first-team appearance for either club.
Green was dropped by Fabio Cappello after this match and replaced by David James who kept goal in England’s final three games in the tournament. England went home after a resounding 4-1 defeat to Germany in the next round Second Round.
Robert Green was brought back into the England squad for the 2012 European Championship Qualifier with Montenegro. He didn’t feature in the game and had to wait another year and a half before his next England appearance. He kept a clean sheet in a friendly with Norway a few days before the 2012 tournament. It was to be his last appearance in an England shirt.
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