James faces up to World Cup battle

As David James watched his England team-mates celebrate qualifying for the World Cup finals on his television, an unpleasant thought crossed the Portsmouth goalkeeper’s mind.

What if he was still be watching from the sidelines by the time England kick off their campaign to win the World Cup in South Africa next year?

In the five games James had missed as a result of a series of injuries, West Ham’s Robert Green had performed well enough and, more importantly for England coach Fabio Capello, the team had kept on winning.

James only had to look at the treatment handed out to Michael Owen – banished from the squad entirely – and David Beckham – reduced to a bit-part substitutes role – to know that experience and reputation are no guarantee of selection under the Italian.

Now James is fit Capello faces a tough choice between him and Green and the former Liverpool star acknowledges that he may not regain his place for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.

“I don’t even know if I’m going to start on Saturday. Mr Capello, from here until the World Cup, will be making the right decisions,” James said.

“If I’m not the one who starts the game and it’s for the benefit of England, that’s fine.

“The process, my whole existence here, is for England to be successful. That doesn’t necessarily include playing because, at the end of the day, it’s the squad that will be victorious, not just the eleven players on the field.”

The 39-year-old, once dubbed “Calamity James” for a series of mistakes made during his time at Liverpool, is never mentioned as one of the world’s best goalkeepers, yet he has rarely let his country down.

Manchester United’s Ben Foster, who will miss the Ukraine game through injury, was regarded as James’s main rival going into this season, but the youngster has produced enough nervous displays for his club to suggest he may not be ready for the pressure of the World Cup just yet.

James believes the scrutiny of being England’s number one can prove too much for younger goalkeepers and he said: “It’s a difficult job playing for England, period, whether you’re a goalkeeper or a centre-forward.

“You have to go through these experiences. If you have criticism it’s a cliche to say you’ll come out right in the end. You don’t always.

“Most people won’t. But it’s a part of the process. I’m sure that, come the World Cup finals, we’ve got enough months ahead of us to ensure that the three goalkeepers in the squad will be well tuned and prepared.”

However, James expects Foster to emerge intact from his current malaise.

“I’m sure he’s in the right place to get the right advice at Manchester United,” James added. “The longevity of any career is going to have ups and downs.

“Depending on who you play when you’re having a down will depend upon how much scrutiny you’ll be under. You don’t get any higher scrutiny when you’re playing for Manchester United and England.

“There are things you can improve on and work on, rather than just analysing that you lost the game. Sometimes you lose good games. You play well but come up against a better side and they beat you. You can’t win every game.

“For every game that I’ve played, I’ve been under scrutiny anyway. The way the manager is, there’s no guarantee – even though I’d started every match – that that would continue, as far as I was concerned.”