Carson Plays Down England Chances

by Danny Wright

England goalkeeper Scott Carson has played down his chances of featuring in England's upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Russia.

Carson is set to take a place on the bench as Paul Robinson and David James battle it out for the number one jersey, which became available after Robinson's blunder in the 2-1 friendly defeat to Germany.

Despite being in good form, the 22-year-old told Sky Sports News he has little chance of figuring in the must win matches on Saturday and Tuesday respectively:

"It should be good with England, but I think it will be mainly training for me."

"Ray Clemence (England's goalkeeping coach) has got more chance of starting a game than me at the moment.

"I've just got to train hard and push Paul Robinson and David James as hard as possible."

Carson is currently on loan at Aston Villa from Liverpool, and has kept two clean sheets in three games, one of which came against title chasers Chelsea in which Carson put in a good shift to shut out the former Champions.

Chelsea keeper Peter Cech also heralded the abilities of Carson, calling him a "great goalkeeper", praise which Carson is only happy to receive.

"It's good to get some praise off somebody like that because he's the best in the world. If I can be anywhere near as good as him then I'll be all right.”."

image - 4thegame.com