Paul Robinson (footballer Born 1979) - International Career

International Career

Robinson has played 41 times for England. He was part of the UEFA Euro 2004 squad, as understudy to David James, making no appearances in the tournament. In the subsequent qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup he replaced James as England's first choice goalkeeper.

At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Robinson was named in England's World Cup squad for the finals in Germany and was an ever present in England's campaign, keeping clean sheets in four out of five games that he played. He conceded no goals to Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago during the group stage. However, in spite of his clean sheet tally he was also criticised for being very indecisive on crosses, missing three against Trinidad and Tobago. After the opening World Cup game against Paraguay, when his counterpart Justo Villar was injured 7 minutes into the match, ending his tournament early, Robinson sent Villar his gloves as a gesture of good will after England won 1–0. During the knockout rounds, he kept clean sheets against Ecuador in the round of 16 and Portugal in the quarter-finals, although the latter prevailed 3–1 in the penalty shoot-out to end England's campaign.

On 11 October 2006, during a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia, an unexpected bobble on a backpass from Gary Neville caused Robinson to miss the ball as he tried to clear it out of the penalty area, resulting in an own goal to put Croatia 2–0 up. Robinson later described the incident as a freak. On 22 August 2007, Robinson made a mistake to gift Germany their first goal in England's first loss at the new Wembley Stadium, with a final scoreline of 2–1. He was substituted at half-time by James, although England manager Steve McClaren said he planned to make this substitution before the game.

After a 2–1 loss to Russia in Euro 2008 qualifying, in which Robinson palmed a shot into the path of Russian forward Roman Pavlyuchenko's path to allow the winner, manager Steve McClaren dropped Robinson for the final qualifying match against Croatia in November, replacing him with Scott Carson.

Robinson was called back into the England squad in 2009 for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra because regular keeper David James was injured. After Robinson's mistake in a qualifier for UEFA Euro 2008 against Croatia he was not picked for two years. It was Robinson's first call up under Fabio Capello since he took charge. For the Kazakhstan game he was selected as a sub after West Ham United keeper Robert Green. Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce said that Robinson should be the number one goalkeeper for England again due to his impressive club form. Robinson failed to make the England squad for South Africa 2010 behind Joe Hart, David James and Robert Green.

On 8 August 2010, Robinson retired from international football and pulled out of the squad after being selected for the friendly match against Hungary, on 11 August. He said about his retirement, "Only now have I been able to make this decision as previously I haven't been in contention for selection, I don't see myself as a number three or four keeper and find that role very frustrating." He has been in terrific form at Blackburn over the course of the 2011-2012 season making a lot of crucial saves against big sides and has been tipped for an England recall for UEFA Euro 2012, despite his club's relegation from the Premiership. It is believed though that Joe Hart, Robert Green, Scott Carson and Ben Foster are all higher than him in the pecking order. Robinson himself has insisted that with him taking time out of international football it has helped raise his game better.