Now England can rely on Robinson to avoid a World Cup calamity
THE greatest stage in football can also be the harshest. Reputations are made and broken at the World Cup Finals, as David Seaman discovered when the biggest game of his career turned into his worst nightmare.
Paul Robinson had a lot of sympathy for Seaman in the wake of the now infamous Ronaldinho free-kick which marked the beginning of the end of the Arsenal player’s distinguished career as England’s No 1.
Having completed a calendar year in the position himself, Robinson now has a better understanding of the scrutiny which comes with the responsibility of keeping goal for your country — and for your club.
Two minor mistakes for Tottenham — against Arsenal and Manchester United — immediately raised comments about his place in Sven Goran Eriksson’s England team. Robinson was surprised but was told it was par for the course when he turned to golf partner Seaman for advice.
‘I still speak to Dave now and then,’ said Robinson as he prepared to face Argentina tomorrow. ‘ I play in his golf tournament and still see him. He’s been an excellent goalkeeper and if I can achieve as much as he did I’ll be very happy. I just get the odd call and text message from him to say “ keep going” and stuff. He’s just good to have around.
‘ I feel as though my form is pretty good, although I’ve been disappointed with a couple of recent mistakes. I’m disappointed the Arsenal game, when we drew 1- 1, was portrayed as a mistake, because I got to the ball at full stretch and it was said I dropped the ball. But I never tried to catch it — I got as much on it as I could to get it out of the danger area. I was unfortunate that it dropped for Pires.
‘ It’s a very lonely position. When you make a mistake there are not generally many people behind you to help out.’
His fellow Yorkshireman knows that only too well. Seaman was an experienced international with 73 caps but still wept in the aftermath of the defeat by Brazil in Japan in 2002.
Robinson is preparing himself for his own World Cup test. ‘ You have to be very strong mentally,’ he said. ‘ You’re there to be shot at and you have to accept it. You just have to make sure it doesn’t happen and if it does, then maybe there are reasons that are out of your control. Nobody means to do it, but you expect the criticism that will follow.
‘ You have to be a strong person and, maybe to become the England No 1, you have to be harder on yourself, to be your own biggest critic. ’
So does he worry about the situation going pear-shaped in next year’s Finals, as it did for Seaman?
Robinson said: ‘If you go into games worried what will happen if you do this or that you’ll be finished before you’ve started. You’ve got to be positive in every game and I’m confident in my own ability. I know I’m good enough to cope.’
So he remains a strong character, and all the better for leaving Leeds to join Tottenham last year. He said: ‘I’d been at Leeds since I was 14 and had some great times but the move was like a breath of fresh air. It was a new challenge, new people to impress and it allowed me to focus and achieve what I want from the game.’ One of those targets is success next summer.
‘The World Cup is the biggest stage for every footballer, every goalkeeper,’ he said. ‘I’ve had isolated incidents recently and hopefully that’s it now.’
i.mcgarry@dailymail.co.uk