Joe Hart Keeps Hold of England Spot as Tom Cleverley Lets Slip World Cup Chance

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 19, 2013

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WEMBLEY, LONDON—No player was out earlier to warm up for Tuesday evening’s friendly between England and Germany than Joe Hart.

Having already lost his starting place for his club—for now, at least—and under threat at the international level, Hart was out a full hour before the 8 p.m. kick-off, practising his distribution and catching along with the other goalkeepers in the squad, John Ruddy and Fraser Forster.

Having watched Forster play the 90 minutes against Chile on Friday, the Celtic player acquitted himself well on his international debut without really doing anything to suggest to Roy Hodgson that he is an imminent heir to the No. 1 jersey, what was going through Hart’s mind as he took goal kicks on the Wembley turf?

Did he want a busy night, where he could show off his reflexes and demonstrate some improved decision-making? Or a quiet one, minimising the chance of another one of the errors that has seen him reach this mini-crossroads in his career?

In the event, the Manchester City man’s evening fell somewhere between the two camps. The first 30 minutes saw him called into action a handful of times, each of which was simply to collect a back-pass from one of his defenders.



Yet each successful negotiation of such an incident—no matter how trivial it was, by the standards of an international footballer—was greeted by resounding applause from around the near-full ground; incongruous given the level of expertise required, but perhaps a clear indication of whether the average fan wants Hart to come through his struggles and remain his country’s No. 1.

Then, with five minutes remaining, Hart got his chance—making a superb clawing save from Per Mertesacker’s header to keep the score level. It felt like an important moment for Hart... except moments later he was picking the ball out of the net, as Mertesac...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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