DAVID JAMES ADMITS TO CHANGE OF FOCUS
Keeper used to want rivals to mess up
DAVID JAMES admits he has sat on the England subs' bench hoping his replacement would make a blunder to re-open the door for him.
But now James says team success rather than individual glory is his driving force.
He said: "I got back into the squad for the qualifier in Ukraine and though not selected to start, I just thought 'let's go and win the game'.
"It was unfortunate for Rob Green that he got sent off and I came on as sub. In the past I have been in the position where if I hadn't been selected, I was sitting there hating everybody and even waiting for mistakes.
"Now the team's the most important thing for me.
"Of course Everyone wants to play, and I am no different. However, if for any reason I am in the squad but not playing, then I will do whatever I can to make whoever is playing do well."
James added: "If we win the World Cup two or three players will emerge as heroes. It will be a team effort, but two or three will be picked out - maybe the captain or goalscorer, or whoever, just like in 1966.
"But the real winner will be English football, and everything that goes with it. That's such a big goal, and that is why I want to contribute to it, not for David James' individual glory but for football in this country.
"So if I am in the squad and someone else is in goal, they will be there by right."
With just two more England friendlies before the finals, starting with Brazil next weekend, James is banking on his Pompey displays to earn him a dream ticket to South Africa.
He added: "I am happy with my form and that is what I need to be doing to put myself on the right plain for the World Cup. Essentially as a player I would be foolish to say the World Cup is not in the back of my mind.
"There is the friendly against Brazil next week, and then maybe one more before the finals start. But there are a load of league and cup games for us before then. The focus is one match at a time, but the big thing is that there is a World Cup at the end of the season.
"Any player who harbours any intention of being part of it, given the success we have had in the qualifiers, will have it in their mind that they want to be involved. I am not interested in moving away from Portsmouth. I am not interested in anything apart from playing, and playing well.
James enthused: "I am not saying we WILL win the World Cup, but we can. You look at the qualifiers, and we lost one in Ukraine, playing most of it with 10 men. In no qualifier were we embarrassed. There s a resilience in the side that I think in the past has been lacking.
"We have played the best teams in the world, and we have learned from those experiences. So yes we could with the World Cup. The reality is it is going to need a bit of good fortune, as Brazil enjoyed when they won it in Japan. But if you do everything else right it gives you the best platform."
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