England’s Joe Hart shelves Messi heroics as Lithuania’s unknown quantities await
|
Version 0 of 1. Joe Hart is holding court at St George’s Park and considering the merits of the strikers he has stared down over recent weeks. He describes Lionel Messi as “absolutely awesome” but pinpoints his clubmate Sergio Agüero as the most ruthless finisher he has ever come across, albeit not often in training at Manchester City. Wayne Rooney remains the “benchmark” for English forwards, a player he has confronted this week in drills with the national squad. There is no mention of Ricardas Beniusis, the veteran Pakruojis Kruoja attacker, or of Pandurii Targu Jiu’s 6ft 3in Deivydas Matulevicius. Or, indeed, the teenage Leicester City forward Simonas Stankevicius whose first-team involvement at club level this season has been limited to five games on loan at Nuneaton Town. Hart will be better briefed on the threat posed by Lithuania’s three out-and-out strikers by the time he arrives at Wembley on Friday night, but there lies the contrast of life with club and country these days. International fixtures can feel like a step into the unknown, where expectations are high and standards must be maintained. The latter, at present, are hitting the roof. A player who had struggled to hold down a regular place in Manuel Pellegrini’s City side for a period last season has excelled to date this term, his performance even in defeat against Messi’s Barcelona at the Camp Nou last week one of the most eye-catching by a goalkeeper in recent memory. He had turned away the Argentinian’s late penalty in the first leg and summoned a whole repertoire of blocks, tackles and finger-tipped saves in the return. At some stage he will reflect on those displays against one of the most sumptuous attacks in world football with satisfaction. For now, it is the disappointment which nags. “I wouldn’t say I’m ‘on a high’ from that performance because it was a difficult night for us, and we were knocked out of the Champions League,” he says. “That’s tough. With the penalty, the only reason Messi missed was because he didn’t take it as well as he’d wanted. I don’t think it was down to me. At the time I felt it had kept us in the competition. I’m sure in years to come, when potentially Messi has been honoured as the greatest player ever to have played football, it’ll be a nice memory to have. I’ll look at things differently when I’m finished.” Messi and Luis Suárez, victorious if personally denied on the night, had made a point of seeking out Hart at the final whistle in the Camp Nou last Wednesday to congratulate him on his display. “They appreciated I’d made a lot of good saves,” says the goalkeeper. “A lot of the time the duels were quite personal because of the way the game went. We had to leave ourselves a little bit open because we were chasing goals, so it was a good game of football played in the right spirit. Unfortunately, we didn’t come out on top. “I kind of know the way they play. Being five yards from goal doesn’t always mean they are going to shoot. They always have other options so I was just trying to give them as little time as possible to make it easy for them. The one when I had to come out and take the ball off Messi’s feet, I’d realised he was in. On another day I could go flying past that ball or foul him, but it felt like the best decision. It was a good night for me, personally, making saves against some of the best players in the world. You have to believe in what you’re doing, be strong. One very good game isn’t going to harm that but, at the same time, I’m not going to get carried away.” What, then, of those star-studded strikers he has thwarted whether in competitive action or training drills. The best finisher? “Agüero, probably, from working with him on a daily basis and from what I’ve seen this season. He just knows how to score. In training he doesn’t particularly excite you most days, but he’s also got that ability on the day to turn it on. Even a long clearance could turn into a goal because he’s got that ability to take it round five people and score. It’s a great thing to have. Sergio is a very natural player and in a one-on-one situation there is nothing complicated about it. He scores. “Even if I’m backing Sergio, Messi is absolutely awesome. A phenomenal player. He scored past me last year with the outside of his foot, managing to dink it back past my shoulder when he didn’t have the momentum to do that. He shouldn’t have been able to do that, but it appeared like a very simple finish for him. One of the best I’ve played against.” With so much attention on Harry Kane and a generation of bright young strikers pressing their claims for inclusion in the England fold, what of Rooney? “When I first came into the England set-up, City weren’t necessarily the same level as now – with the quality we have – so these were the best players I’d ever seen. This was the highest level I could be involved in. We’ve always had good options up front with England, and at the core an amazing player like Wayne. He’s always been there and he does bring the level up. He is still the benchmark. He’s our captain, our leader and soon to be the leading goalscorer for his country. He’s won over 100 caps, is our main man and he’s set a high standard.” Forwards such as Kane, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge or even Danny Ings and Saido Berahino can concentrate on following in Rooney’s footsteps. Hart, for his part, can earn a 50th cap against Italy next Tuesday though his target for now is familiarising himself with the threat posed by Lithuania at a sold-out Wembley. “I’ll be watching videos, studying pattern of play, where they’ve been successful and unsuccessful, trying to get as much footage as possible from their club sides,” he adds. “There’s no point me lying and saying I know everything about Lithuania now, but we will have learned everything it’s possible to know about them by the end of the week. We prepare for everything.” |