‘Sorry’ Green out to avoid axe

ROBERT GREEN has apologised to the England players and supporters for his World Cup howler against the United States on Saturday.

But the West Ham goalkeeper insists his error in the 1-1 draw has made him doubly determined to make amends if head coach Fabio Capello keeps faith with him against Algeria.

Green allowed a harmless looking 25-yard shot from Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey to slip from his grasp and over the goal line five minutes before half-time.

It cancelled out England captain Steven Gerrard’s opening goal in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg.

Green made no excuses for his error, such as the swerve on the ball or finding out whether he was playing only two hours before kick-off, and wants to put matters right on Friday in Cape Town.

He said: “I walked in at half-time, said sorry to the chaps and I apologise to however many million people at home as well.

“But the important thing is you are ready and I am willing to work mentally on it. It’s not a problem. I’ve done it before, I’m 30 years old and I’ve learned to deal with these things.

“The manager has to answer whether he will stick with me. I’ll be prepared, be ready, wanting to play.

“I’m desperately keen to play, I want to play every game I possibly can. This is the biggest stage in the world. I’ll be twice as determined for this not to happen again.

“You want to be a man about it and you want to stand up. You want to be tested. Playing lovely football and making wonderful saves is not a challenge.

“This is a challenge and this is why you are a footballer. That’s what football’s all about.

“It’s got a wonderful way of coming round and kicking you in the balls. It’s how you bounce back from that.”

Capello has constantly kept his players waiting until a couple of hours before kick-off time before telling them who will be starting matches.

But Green, who was preferred to David James and Joe Hart, insisted: “Only knowing two hours before the game is not a problem.

“You prepare as though you’re playing. If you don’t, that’s the mistake. The other guys prepared as though they were playing and we will again for Friday.

“You prepare for Friday as though you are playing again. It’s not a surprise when you are playing then. It’s not a problem, it’s not an issue, you deal with it. It’s fine, you carry on.”

Green added: “I’m also not blaming the ball. It’s had a lot of criticism but I should have stopped it. There’s no two ways about it.

“It’s a shot from I don’t know how many yards out that I should have stopped and that I will do time and time again in training.

“It’s obviously a genuine, horrible mistake but it’s something to deal with.”

There was more bad news for England when it was revealed that Ledley King had been substituted at half-time for Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher because the Tottenham defender has an abductor injury which will keep him out of Friday’s game against Algeria.

Capello must now decide whether to take the ultimate action and dump his goalkeeper after just one game.

“Goalkeepers make mistakes. This is part of football,” said Capello. “You have to accept that, just the same as you do with a referee or a striker.

“I decided on Green because he played very well in the last game against Platinum Stars and also against Mexico at Wembley, and in the second half last night he played very well and made a really important save. But a mistake remains a mistake.”

Green’s opposite number Tim Howard revealed that he needed pain-killing injections to get him through the encounter.

Howard made a string of superb saves in the second half to earn his country the draw despite suffering a nasty-looking first-half collision with Emile Heskey as the pair went to cut out Glen Johnson’s low cross.

“Emile caught me right in the ribs,” said Howard. “I honestly didn’t know whether it was broken or not. I was just trying to breathe and that was tough enough. I was going to give myself five or 10 minutes because I knew once the adrenalin kicked back in I was going to be all right until half-time.

“But it was really sore and it did cross my mind I might have to be substituted.

“Thankfully I managed to make it through and had a pain-killing injection.”

And having observed Green at close quarters in domestic football, he has nothing but sympathy for his fellow keeper.

“There is a bond between the keepers,” he said. “You understand the criticism that is heaped upon keepers.

“I feel for Green. Even when we equalised, I had mixed emotions at that very moment because you know what happened.

“He is a fantastic goalkeeper. I have known him from playing against him for a number of years and he will bounce back.

“You need to be strong and have broad shoulders – and Robert does.”