Steve Harper to be handed World Cup gloves?

Words by Kevin Doocey on Dec 9, 2009

Harper - Being looked at by Fabio Capello?

There’s reports that Steve Harper could well be line for a call up by England manager, Fabio Capello. Of coruse Harper has been doing well and very well at that, it would be great to see the man represent Newcastle in the World Cup in South Africa. Whether this story is made up or not I’m not entirely sure but I could honestly see Harper between the sticks for England, and perhaps a long time coming. Although you’ll have your Robert Green’s, David James, Scott Carson, Joe Hart and maybe even Arsenal Manuel Almunia in line, I just think that Harper is as good as any of those above keepers. Then again, that’s my opinion, you might not agree.

Chris Hughton is firmly behind Harper and thinks that Steve would make a very good England #1. He’s not the only one I’m sure and maybe Capello is taking a look at him as another option.

Speaking today Hughton said :

“It is the England manager’s prerogative to look at all English keepers,’ he said in The Mirror.‘He has to pick who he wants, but if I look at Steve Harper’s performances for us, I don’t think there are many better than him.

“Steve is a goalkeeper that has matured, and I think he is at his prime at this particular moment, and the types of saves he is making are not easy ones.

“He has made all sorts of saves, generally reflex saves, and of course that all stems from being at the right place at the right time.

“I think he is in top form at the moment. I think he is a goalkeeper who has been such great value to us and certainly we would not have the amount of points we have at the moment if it was not for him.”

”Of course Steve’s age will come in to consideration but that aside, he’s a pretty fine keeper. After waiting on the bench for so many years with Newcastle he decided to stay on and now, this year, he is our permanent #1.”

Great performances away to Sheffield have ensured his spot just ahead of the challenging Tim Krul and tonight, we’d expect Harper to have a job to do against Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena.

Comments welcome 🙂