West Ham United goalkeeper Robert Green is planning to grab his latest England opportunity with both hands this week.
The 29-year-old, whose only England cap came in a friendly against Colombia in Boston in May 2005, will battle Portsmouth veteran David James and Manchester City rookie Joe Hart for the No1 jersey for Wednesday evening's international with Spain at Seville's Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.
Green, was called into the England squad for the first time for the friendly in Sweden in March 2004, has been selected regularly by head coach Fabio Capello without being handed any playing time. However, with the former England B international in impressive, consistent form for his club, the Italian could reward the reigning Hammer of the Year with his second full cap.
"It's good to go. I'll go there, train hard and see what happens with the game on Wednesday. My name is first on the squad list but I think that's an alphabetical thing! Seriously, though, I wouldn't go if I didn't see it as an opportunity. It's another chance to show the manager and his staff what I can do and hopefully give myself a chance.
"There are three West Ham United players [Green, Matthew Upson and Carlton Cole] in the squad and two Manchester United players [Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick] - both of whom are former West Ham players - and it is recognition of the form that the lads have been in here."
Back at the Boleyn Ground, Green was in philosophical mood following Sunday's narrow 1-0 Premier League defeat to champions Manchester United. West Ham matched their visitors for long periods, with Ryan Giggs' 62nd-minute goal one of only six shots on target mustered by Sir Alex Ferguson's team.
"It was disappointing because we've come away thinking that we didn't really trouble them too much, but then they didn't really trouble us other than one defensive slip - or three in the space of five seconds - that cost us.
"If you look at the game, United upped it for that 15 minutes after half-time, got the goal and then went back into their shells again and never really seemed that troubled by us. They played within themselves and, realistically, will see that as a fairly comfortable win."
The Hammers' defeat to the Red Devils was their first in four matches against the Premier League's 'Big Four', with Gianfranco Zola's team gaining draws at Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in recent weeks. However, Green believes his colleagues can go one better and gain a victory next time they take on one of the top-flight's leading lights.
"Last week [at Arsenal] we came out of the game with a good result but felt we could have played better. It was the same on Sunday. We've come out of it not having been humiliated by the best team in the world but we're thinking we could have done that bit more, really taken it by the scruff of the neck and really given it a go."