Spector backs Green case

Jonathan Spector has backed Robert Green to line up against him when the United States take on England in their opening 2010 FIFA World Cup fixture.

In exactly one month, the US will battle Fabio Capello's side in the South African town of Rustenburg on 12 June, when both nations will be desperate to get their campaign off to the best possible start.

West Ham United's versatile American defender believes his team-mate has all the tools needed to fight off the challenge posed by former Hammer David James and Manchester City youngster Joe Hart.

"I always personally felt confident having him behind me, that if something goes wrong, he'll be there. I think he's the most consistent as well, compared to the other England keepers.

"I think that's something Fabio Capello or any manager would value in a World Cup, especially when there's a lot more pressure, the kind of pressure the England team will be facing going into it."

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Spector himself is also keen to experience the pressure of a World Cup, having missed out on the 2006 tournament in South Africa due to a serious shoulder injury.

After being sidelined from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing with a hip problem, the 24-year-old returned to international duty to help Bob Bradley's side reach the final of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, which was also held in South Africa last June.

"I'm really excited, and for a number of reasons. It's the first opportunity to represent my country at such a big stage, which is a massive honour. Then personally, having missed the last World Cup and Olympics, I'm certainly looking forward to not missing out and being able to compete against the best teams and players in the world.

"I'd certainly say it was an advantage for us [having played in the Confederations Cup]. For us, as a team, we know what it's like to be there, the atmosphere, the day-to-day aspect of being out there. We know what to expect going into it. It'll just be on a larger scale this time.

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"Obviously the struggles we've had at West Ham this season have been well-documented. During that time it was difficult to think too far in advance about the World Cup. My focus was the job at hand, which was staying in the Premier League. It was a poor season for us, but importantly we managed to keep hold of our Premier League status."

With relegation avoided, Spector is now fully focused on stopping England and, in particular, Manchester United forward and PFA Players' Player of the Year Wayne Rooney.

"England actually play different to a lot of the other European teams. It's pretty well-known they're going to be more direct. They obviously like to get the ball forward as quickly as possible, and there will be a lot more crosses coming in from them than the other teams in the group.

"I think we'll need to defend well as a group in that respect. They'll have good possession and we'll have to make sure possession is ahead of us, not behind us. I think they'll be sending quite a few players forward, so we can certainly counterattack, which is something we did very well at the Confederations Cup.

"Rooney was in unbelievable form before his [ankle] injury. It didn't seem like you could stop him or take him out of the game. I think we need to limit his contribution as much as possible. He has so many great attributes and scored many goals and scored so many headers, which we haven't seen in the past.

"It's not a job of one person to defend against him, but the team in general. He's very clever. Sometimes he drops off in the midfield to find space and pick up the ball and run at you."