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PETER SHILTON, England’s record-breaking goalkeeper who played in the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups, insists troubled current number one, Joe Hart, must break back into Manchester City’s first team if he wants to make his Brazilian dream come true.
His experiences with 11 clubs, two European Cup wins, several England managers and some of the best players in the world have made him one of the most popular after-dinner speakers on the road and Shilton will be appearing at the Dilmun Club in Saar tomorrow night.
England will play Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in Group D at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil in what many football pundits describe as the ‘group of death’ and proceeding into the competition’s knock-out stages could largely depend on the form of Hart.
Shilton, now 64, said: “I think at the moment England coach Roy Hodgson will keep faith with Joe Hart because he is still our most experienced goalkeeper.
“He has done well for England in the past. I think it’s important in the next few months before the tournament that he is playing regularly for a team. In order to be in the World Cup you have to be playing first team football.
“He needs to be playing and at the moment he is not.”
Hart was dropped by his club last month after his misjudgment led to defeat at Chelsea, the latest in a series of high-profile errors that has left question marks over England’s No 1.
Hodgson gave Celtic’s Fraser Forster his senior international debut in the recent 2-0 friendly defeat by Chile, although Hart reclaimed the jersey for the visit to Wembley of three-times world champions Germany, which also ended in defeat as a result of Per Mertesacker’s headed goal. Again, England suffered the ignominy of being booed inside their own stadium.
Shilton said: “England need to improve but we have quite a lot of young players coming through. I hope striker Wayne Rooney will fulfil his potential and show what we know he is – a great player. He hasn’t really done that in previous tournaments so I think maybe this could be his time.
“I think Brazil will be the favourites and quite rightly so. Everything is in their favour – the crowd and the conditions.
“I think Argentina will do well too for the same reasons and Germany are always going to be very difficult to beat.
“The hot conditions will not help. It’s very difficult for European teams to go to places like Mexico and Brazil because of the weather.”
Shilton thinks it is essential England get off to a good start in the group with an opening clash against Italy. “The first game is always important. You don’t want to get beaten. Get a result against Italy and it will be a good start,” he said.
England will have to travel 1,777 miles from their chosen base in Rio for their first match in the tropical heat of Manaus, which is in the Amazon jungle.
Earlier this week Hodgson described Manaus as ‘the place to avoid’ because of the climate – temperatures reach 30C and humidity is about 80 per cent – although, after the draw, the England boss took comfort from the fact his team face a fellow European side.
Italy are notorious slow starters and this could play to England’s advantage. Shilton added: “I would be disappointed if England didn’t get to the quarter-finals. Once you are there, you need a bit of luck because anything can happen. Maybe they would have better luck this time, who knows?”
Lady luck was certainly not on Shilton’s side when he was the man between the sticks. One of the most famous moments in his career occurred in the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico when England faced a quarter-final showdown with Maradona’s Argentina, and a match that would become legendary in World Cup history.
Striker Maradona had been on fire so far in the tournament, but England managed to minimise his influence in the first half. However, early in the second half, an attempted clearance skewed back towards the England penalty area, and Maradona used his hand to outreach Shilton and punch the ball into the net, an offence inexplicably missed by the referee.
The Argentinian striker later described the goal and his action as ‘the hand of God’.
Despite England’s protests led by Shilton, the goal stood, and Maradona went on to score a second goal, an amazing solo effort. England bravely battled back, with Gary Lineker scoring and going agonisingly close to an equaliser, but it was not to be, and the match ended 2-1 to Argentina.
Shilton said: “I do get asked about ‘the hand of God’ a lot and I understand why people do ask it. It’s something that I am not that happy to be associated with for obvious reasons. I must say that I am still annoyed about it.”
Shilton continued to play with England until the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, where England were again unlucky, this time losing on penalties against Germany in the semi-final.
After that match Shilton finally retired with an amazing 125 caps to his name, an England record that still stands today.
* An audience with Peter Shilton which includes a three-course meal and a question-and-answer session with the England legend starts at 8pm tomorrow at the Dilmun Club. A few remaining tickets are available costing BD22 for members and B25 for non-members. Call 17690926 for details.
