Keegan tips Downing for England honours

Former England boss Kevin Keegan has joined the campaign for Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing to be given his chance at senior international level.

The 20-year-old was one of the architects of Boro’s 3-2 Barclays Premiership victory over Keegan’s Manchester City at the Riverside Stadium tonight, prompting Keegan to admit he could be the real thing.

“I would think that if you’re looking at the left-side problem for England, which has been there for many, many years, he’s the one I would say at the moment looks to be the answer,” said Keegan.

“He’s got pace, he doesn’t have to try hard to beat people and he seems to have quite a good picture of how the game is going. In other words, he’s learnt very quickly.”

Downing outshone fellow England hopeful Shaun Wright-Phillips, who was superbly marshalled by Michael Reiziger, although Keegan believes both will go on to play for their country with distinction.

It was Downing who played in Mark Viduka to open the scoring with just nine minutes gone and, after Robbie Fowler had levelled, the Australian claimed a second on 54 minutes to claim the man of the match award.

“I think on tonight’s performance, both will go on to play for England,” said Keegan.

“Stewart Downing got better service tonight and I thought Downing and Viduka were the two players, Viduka because of what he’s good at.

“There are a lot of things Viduka doesn’t do or doesn’t seem to want to do, but the things he is good at – backing into people, getting free-kicks, being strong and certainly turning people on the edge of the box and finishing – he did all those things tonight for them.

“I thought Downing was outstanding as well, I’ve got to be honest. I thought every time he picked it up, especially in the first half, he carried a threat.”

Boro boss Steve McClaren has been careful to keep Downing’s feet on the ground as he has emerged as a genuine contender for international honours, but even he admitted Sven-Goran Eriksson is going to find it difficult to overlook him.

“I thought tonight was a very big test for Stewart Downing, on TV and playing against Danny Mills,” said McClaren. “It was a big night for him, but he rose to the occasion and was a threat all the way through.

“He’s certainly maturing in his performances and getting the consistency that he needs.

“If he keeps playing like that, Sven’s got to pick him. We said to him, if he keeps playing like that, then he can’t ignore him, and he does, he keeps playing like that.”

But if Downing was the main talking point, it was the return of Viduka and strike-partner Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to goalscoring form which came as a welcome relief.

The Dutchman, who had not found the back of the net since October 16, blasted home a decisive 65th-minute free-kick while the former Leeds man’s double ended a wait of a month longer.

“It wasn’t as if they weren’t playing well and creating the chances,” said McClaren.

“We needed them tonight, we knew we needed to score goals to win this game and we knew they would have to contribute, and I thought the three goals were magnificent and really, we should have had more.

“They were great goals and we needed them because it was a very open game and defences weren’t necessarily on top.”

Boro looked to be cruising at 3-1 until 19-year-old substitute Bradley Wright-Phillips, making his Premiership debut, pulled one back 10 minutes from time to spark a grandstand finish, although ultimately in vain.

“I’m a little bit disappointed we didn’t get something out of it,” said Keegan.

“I think we’ve had two teams here tonight and neither of us have played that well and yet we’ve created a number of chances between us and managed to score five goals, them three, unfortunately, and us only two.”