Paul Robinson retires from international football
England’s goalkeeper Paul Robinson called it a day to his international football career last night at Beverley, England. The decision came after withdrawing himself from the squad that faces Hungary at Wembley, the coming Wednesday.
A prolific player for England, Paul was placed in the playing squad by the coach Fabio Capello, for the upcoming game. It is the same goalkeeper for England, who was left out for this year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa this summer because of his inconsistent performance, both in the club and while playing for the nation. The 30-year-old, who used to play for clubs like Leeds and Tottenham, says that he was not ready to accept himself as a number 3 or number 4 goalkeeper for the side and wanted to be at the top. He expressed his frustration by saying that he has always tried his heart out by remaining loyal to the institution of football for his side and had no other choice, than retiring.
His decision of retiring from international football was further confirmed by The Football Association on their website and in the newspaper, adding that the Englishman had no intentions of calling back his decision. England, however, would not be having any replacement for the veteran when they go into the exhibition game on 11th August.
Robinson needed to concentrate on club football after not been given the due status and rank in the international team. After serving England for 41 international matches, he would be paying heed solely at the club level football for Blackburn Rovers.
Robinson, who made his debut against Australia back in 2003 made a firm footmark by struggling and putting forward splendid display of play. It was because of this remarkable service that he was selected as the first choice during England’s qualifying matches for 2006 FIFA World Cup, and later the World Cup. His playing techniques made the selectors rank him above David James as England’s frontline goalkeeper for the major event. Robinson truly lived up to the expectations of his coach and English fan’s during the World Cup in Germany, by not conceding any goals against the athletic Trinidad and Tobago of Paraguay in their group stage round. He kept his good run with the ball against Ecuador team, and then in round of 16 against Portugal.
Poor Robinson had to undergo a number of controversies that led to his downfall from the international side. It was a mere mishap when he failed to respond to a back pass given by Gary Neville, resulting in a 2-0 defeat against Croatia. Then at another occasion in Germany, he could not hold the ball fired at the goal post, and eased the opponent with an easy goal. Later on despite Paul being substituted, England lost the match 2-1. Things continued to go bad for Blackburn Rovers champion, when he was axed from the squad following a 2-1 loss to Russia in 2008 Euro qualifying match, and did not get a call from the coach for almost two years.
This added more to Robinson’s misery, as he could not do well in the playing clubs despite switching back and forth. Luck favoured him yet again, and he was called back in 2009 for the preparatory and qualifying matches of 2010 FIFA World Cup against Kazakhstan and Andorra, as the main goal keeper David James suffered serious injuries and was ruled out for an indefinite period of time. Robinson acted as a number 2 goal keeper for the team to the unfortunate Robert Green missed a sitter at World Cup 2010 match against United States of America. One might have regretted Green’s mishap, and might have felt Robinson as the first option over him but it was James who got in for the rest of the Cup but England was disappointed yet again.
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