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World Cup 2010: England 'to drop' Green

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 18 June 2010

As Boris Johnson tells Keme Nzerem he predicts a 2-0 England win, reports indicate that Fabio Capello has decided to start tonight's game against Algeria with David James in goal, following Robert Green's goalkeeping error in the USA game last week.

Robert Green is dropped from goal against Algeria (image: Reuters)

Reports indicate that Fabio Capello has decided to start tonight's game against Algeria with David James in goal, following Robert Green's goalkeeping error in the USA game last week.

Newspapers are reporting that David James, the veteran 39-year-old Portsmouth goalkeeper will start the game instead of Green.  

The England manager, Fabio Capello, has seemingly not been convinced that Green has recovered enough self belief following last week's error to play tonight. Green fumbled a save that allowed USA's Clint Dempsey to score the equaliser in a game that was widely viewed as belonging to England.

The resulting draw has placed significant importance on tonight's game with Algeria to be held in Cape Town. If England fail to win tonight, it means their chances of qualifying from the group become much more unlikely.

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Robert Green's performance in front of a training session yesterday was poor, fumbling three saves. This appears to have made up Capello's mind, as he is reported to have spoken to Green his morning to say that he would be left out. 

Capello will confirm to the rest of the England players only two hours before the match who is in the squad.

Serbia's goalkeeper Stojkovic gestures after he made a save during a 2010 World Cup Group D soccer match against Germany

10 man Germany lose to Serbia

Serbia have beaten Germany in a surprise result 1-0.

The Serbian team scored after 38 minutes with Milan Jovanovic putting the ball into the German goal, but nearly lost their lead later on when they gave away a foolish penalty.

Nemanja Vidic clearly handballed the ball in the Serbian goal mouth, earning himself a yellow card and the team a penalty.

Lukas Podolski took the shot, but Germany failed to score - their first World Cup missed penalty in since 1982.

Serbia were lucky to avoid a second penalty in the final seconds of the game when Stankovic took Mario Gomez down again in the penalty box.

Despite several chances at either end the game ended 1-0. The Spanish referee Undiano Mallenco however came away with a much higher personal score card, giving away 9 yellow cards during the card and sending one German player off in a harsh decision.

Boris Johnson talks to Keme Nzerem

David James has played 50 games for England, and holds the record for hiding the most clean sheets in the premiership.

'2 - 0 to England to win' says Boris

England fans are arriving in numbers in South Africa's Cape Town to watch the game, with around 20,000 England supporters expected.

One of the fans, Boris Johnson has told Channel 4 News' Keme Nzerem that he predicts England to win by two nil. But he's forgotten his vuvuzela, and left it at home he says.

Keme Nzerem is in Cape Town meeting the fans ahead of the game:
As 20,000 supporters are expected to descend on Cape Town for England's second game of their World Cup campaign, Keme Nzerem finds out how the authorities are planning to manage the influx.

There's a very unfamiliar sight in Cape Town this week. The distant peaks that line South Africa's Western Cape Coast are veiled with snow. It might be the depths of winter but for many England fans this is the beginning of their summer holiday.



As many as 20,000 supporters are expected as Fabio's 23 up their bid to make a real impact on this World Cup. And this morning the signs are this town is rapidly being painted red and white. The flags are already up on the sunshine coast of Camps Bay, and Cape Town's famous Waterfront has become the unofficial England fans' HQ.

And with high spirits come the inevitable drunken hijinx. Although there have been a number of serious clashes here between authorities and stewards, who are striking over a pay dispute, the Cape Town police say thus far the most serious incident they have had to deal with is a taxi running over an Englishman's foot.

Read more from Keme Nzerem

Irish shed few tears for France
Back in the northern hemisphere, there was little Irish sympathy for France's defeat by Mexico last night.

The Republic of Ireland had been knocked out of the World Cup qualifiers by a Thierry Henry's handball, which led to a crucial goal that allowed France to qualify.

Henry later confessed to the handball saying: "Yes, there is a handball but I am not the referee.

"I'm in the box, there are two defenders in front of me. The ball bounced off my hand, the referee did not see it and I played on.

"It doesn't change anything to the fact that I'm happy we have qualified."

Irish players had protested immediately, with outrage. Ireland captain Robbie said Henry "almost caught it and ran into the net with it."

So France's loss to Mexico last night has been something of a special moment to Irish fans and press.

The Irish Examiner writes:

"Supporters of the Boys in Green will have savoured France's defeat to Mexico last night, a result that leaves Raymond Domenech's side staring at the prospect of saying an early 'au revoir' to the 2010 World Cup."

"Few will shed any tears at their current plight. To add to the delight of those of a bitter disposition, there was more than a hint of controversy about the second half goal that put Mexico on the road to victory last night.

"Few will sympathise though, as it seems that what goes round does indeed occasionally come round."

An African World Cup? Think again
So much for this being an African World Cup, writes football author Steve Bloomfield for Channel 4 News.

Few Africans from outside the host country have been able to make the trip south, while the South Africans who make their trade from football – the informal hawkers and trinket sellers – have been banned from within half a mile of the stadiums.

The official World Cup song is performed by a Colombian and to top it all the temperature has routinely dropped below freezing. The hawkers outside the exclusion zone are selling out of ear-muffs.

All of that might have been forgotten if the six African teams had performed on the pitch, but so far this is shaping up to be the worst World Cup for Africa since Cameroon’s Roger Milla-inspired breakthrough in 1990. In the first eight matches played by African teams they have managed just one win between them and scored three goals.

Most Africans will be getting behind Ivory Coast and Ghana this weekend, knowing that defeats for both could leave the continent without any representatives in the final 16.

Too many Africans have already been left out off the pitch; it would be a terrible shame if Africa found itself excluded on the pitch too.

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