Former England goalkeeper Rob Green made one of the country’s most high-profile errors at a World Cup and was immediately blanked by then boss Fabio Capello after being dropped.
Green began as the Three Lions’ No 1 back when the 2010 tournament was held in South Africa. England had been sensational in qualifying, securing some major scalps, and were among the favourites but ended up having a horror World Cup.
It began with a 1-1 draw against the USA, whose equaliser came courtesy of a goalkeeping error. Clint Dempsey fired a speculative long-range effort, which should’ve been a routine save. Green failed to gather and that would bring his England spell to an end.
Capello would axe Green, bringing in David James for the remaining games, and the then-West Ham goalkeeper was shunned by his manager after that.
He told the Athletic: “After the USA match, he just told me I wasn’t playing and that was the last time he spoke to me at the tournament. There was no communication from Capello. Why did he care? He was just matter of fact.”
Capello addressed Green’s error after the game and didn’t sugar-coat the blunder: “Sometimes a forward misses, sometimes a keeper makes a mistake – that’s football. The second half he (Green) played very well, but the mistake remains a mistake.”
Green’s error was the start of a forgettable tournament for England, who would follow their draw with the USA with another stalemate, this time against Algeria. A win over Slovenia would take them into the last 16, but that’s where their World Cup would end as they were hammered 4-1 by Germany.
View 2 ImagesRob Green was a defining mistake at the World Cup
Capello would survive a post-World Cup review but resigned before the next major tournament, Euro 2012, after clashing with the FA after they took the captaincy away from John Terry.
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Green meanwhile would win one more cap, that coming in 2012. A club level he would leave West Ham and spent several years with QPR, winning promotion from the Championship, before he headed to Leeds, which is where he would make his last professional outing.
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