Green pleads for another chance to confirm his place as England's No 1

ROBERT GREEN has apologised to the England players and supporters for his World Cup howler against the United States – and pleaded for a second chance.

The West Ham goalkeeper insists his error in the 1-1 draw has made him doubly determined to make amends if head coach Fabio Capello keeps faith with him against Algeria.

Green allowed a harmless looking 25-yard shot from Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey to slip from his grasp and over the goal line five minutes before half-time.

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It cancelled out England captain Steven Gerrard's opening goal in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg.

Green made no excuses for his error, such as the swerve on the ball or finding out whether he was playing only two hours before kick-off, and wants to put matters right on Friday in Cape Town.

He said: "I walked in at half-time, said sorry to the chaps and I apologise to however many million people at home as well.

"The manager (Fabio Capello) was fine. At half-time, he said 'it is not a problem, move on' – and you do that.

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"But the important thing is you are ready and I am willing to work mentally on it. It's not a problem. I've done it before, I'm 30 years old and I've learned to deal with these things.

"The manager has to answer whether he will stick with me. I'll be prepared, be ready and be prepared just the same, wanting to play.

"I'm desperately keen to play, I want to play every game I possibly can. This is the biggest stage in the world."

There has been much criticism of Green for his error and David James is now being made favourite by some bookmakers to reclaim the No 1 spot. But

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30-year-old Green is keen for the opportunity to put right his mistake: "I'll be twice as determined for this not to happen again. Of course, this makes me more determined to play next time to right the wrong.

"You want to be a man about it and you want to stand up. You want to be tested. Playing lovely football and making wonderful saves is not a challenge.

"This is a challenge and this is why you are a footballer. That's what football's all about.

"It's got a wonderful way of coming round and kicking you where it hurts. It's how you bounce back from that."

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Capello has constantly kept his players waiting until a couple of hours before kick-off time before telling them who will be starting matches.

But Green, who was preferred to James and Joe Hart, insisted: "Only knowing two hours before the game is not a problem.

"You prepare as though you're playing. If you don't, that's the mistake. The other guys prepared as though they were playing and we will again for Friday. You prepare for Friday as though you are playing again. It's not a surprise when you are playing then. It's not a problem, it's not an issue, you deal with it. It's fine, you carry on."

Green, who spent yesterday on the golf course trying to escape the media glare, added: "I'm also not blaming the ball. It's had a lot of criticism but I should have stopped it. There's no two ways about it. It's a shot from I don't know how many yards out that I should have stopped and that I will do time and time again in training.

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"It's obviously a genuine, horrible mistake but it's something to deal with."

Green did redeem himself somewhat with a decent save to deny former Hull City striker Jozy Altidore in the second half, but in reality the goalkeeper will not be allowed to forget the error that cost England a winning start to their 2010 campaign

While Capello must once again consider his options between the posts, the plight of the tournament's goalkeepers has resulted in ball manufacturer adidas issuing a statement denying their much-criticised Jabulani product is at fault.

In yesterday's game between the other Group C sides, Slovenia beat Algeria after Robert Koren's weak effort bounced beyond the grasp of shame-faced Faouzi Chaouchi. There were distinct similarities between his error and that of Green.

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James said before the tournament that he feared someone would be made to look "an idiot" by it because he claimed it was difficult to read the flight of the ball and judge the bounce.

Adidas stood by the Jabulani last night and pointed to some other impressive goalkeeping displays so far which suggest Green's error was the exception rather than the rule.

Thomas Schaikvan, head of public relations for adidas, said: "We are happy with the ball's performance and we don't think it had anything to do with the goal England conceded. On the contrary, if you look at the games so far, goalkeepers have been the stars of the tournament.

"The Nigeria goalkeeper (Vincent Enyeama) and (United States goalkeeper) Tim Howard won the man-of-the-match award in their games, and the South Africa goalkeeper (Itumeleng Khune) was also excellent against Mexico. There have been some fantastic saves and the ball is allowing goalkeepers to perform at their best."