Green Vows To Bounce Back

| Monday June 14, 2010 00:00

'I'm sure there's 50-odd million people disappointed with me, but I'll come back, work hard and it won't affect me,' said West Ham goalkeeper Green.

'At half time I walked in, apologised to the lads and moved on.' Coach Fabio Capello added: 'Sometimes a forward misses, sometimes a keeper makes a mistake - that's football.' Green failed to get behind a Clint Dempsey strike from outside the penalty area, allowing the ball to squirm through his hands and over the line to gift the US an equaliser just before half-time in Rustenburg. It cost England dear, with Capello's men unable to find a response despite a bright start that saw Steven Gerrard score a fine opener after just four minutes.

'It hit the outside of one of my thumbs, do that again 1000 times and I will save 999,' said Green.

'It is something that has happened in life, you accept it, move on and keep working. I want to carry on playing and I want to stand up and represent my country.'

'You don't prepare for making a great save, you don't prepare mentally for having a perfect game, you prepare for making mistakes and it is bouncing back from those mistakes which is the important part. Thankfully in the next 50 minutes of the game I did that.'

Despite refusing to publicly blame the West Ham keeper, Capello refused to confirm Green would again start in goal in England's next Group C game against Algeria on Friday. 'The second half he (Green) played very well,' said Capello. 'But the mistake remains a mistake.'

It is not the first time Green has made a high-profile error in an England shirt. He mis-kicked a goal-kick, rupturing his goal in the process, that allowed Belarus to equalise in a 2-1 England B defeat at the Madejski Stadium in 2006.

According to Opta statistics, too, Green made more errors leading to goals than any other player in the Premier League last season. But Green insisted he would not be too downbeat, saying: 'Clint has hit one and it's one I should have saved. It's thoroughly disappointing, (but) it's something that has happened and I can't let it affect me. I had 50 minutes left in the game to represent my country and not let it happen again and I didn't let it affect my performance.' (BBC)