Peter Crouch still wants to play for England

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Peter Crouch

Peter Crouch still wants to play for England, despite being pushed into international exile by Roy Hodgson.

The national team manager refused to pick Crouch for the recent World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine, even after a spate of injuries.

Hodgson said the Stoke striker's refusal to go on stand-by for Euro 2012 was the reason behind his decision.

But Crouch, 31, confirmed: "If I get a chance to play for my country again I'll grab it with both hands."

He added: "I'm not too concerned with it, I'll just keep on playing as well as I can for Stoke and if the call comes that would be fantastic."

Crouch has scored 22 goals in 42 appearances for England but earned his last cap two years ago.

Having scored 14 goals for Stoke last season, he admitted to being frustrated by Hodgson's decision to omit him from the full Euro 2012 squad.

But the former Liverpool player denied refusing a chance to be one of England's back-up players.

He said: "It wasn't a case of being a stand-by, I think he wanted me to play in one of the friendlies and then go home.

"We had a conversation but I think that should remain between me and the manager."

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  • This dispells the myth:

    http://www.ongoalsscored.com/2011/08/07/the-peter-crouch-myth/

    Key fact is his ratio of goals scored against 'decent opposition' to minutes played against 'decent opposition' is better than Rooney et al.

  • Peter Crouch is a much better player than he's given credit for.
    Excellent 1st touch & control, good finisher & much more than a striker to lump long balls to!
    His goal scoring ratio for England is 2nd to none.
    He can also only score against the teams he's been played against.
    He should've been a 1st choice striker at Euro 2012!
    He should've started alongside Defoe in the last 2 qualifiers!

  • 7.Mitton
    "only scores against rubbish teams" right? Well, we need players who can score against rubbish teams. If I remember correctly we could have done with some goals against the USA and Algeria in WC2010. Something Wonderboy-Rooney couldn't delvier.

    Also, as #8 points out your statement is false. He scores against decent teams when he's given the chance to play them.

  • This is international football, not Iraq. If a player doesn't want to "serve" his country, so be it. If he does, great. Prove it with your performances. Over the past few months, Crouch, Defoe and Welbeck have been Englands best performing Forwards (Which says a lot) So pick them! Make others (Rooney) Work for their places!

  • Crouch is a mediocre player ? and Andy Carroll is world class i suppose, given the choice between them its Crouch every time

  • I think Crouchy should get a call-up, but Woy obviously isn't going to back down, same with Rio. Unless you play for Liverpool or Chelsea, Woy don't wanna know! How on earth does Johnson get near the England team, yet Micah Richards doesn't? Woy inspires no confidence whatsoever, and as we saw against Ukraine, any half-decent team is punishing us. We will get slaughtered when we play any top teams

  • deserves to be playing - much better then what other options - and has proven experience - 22 goals in 42 games!

  • Previous comments fail to suggest that England have anyone better than Peter Crouch. A succession of over-rated Manchester United players continues to fail to score goals for England, whilst this proven striker is ignored. There seems to be a belief that England can play the 'beautiful game', and to opt for Peter Crouch would not fit into this. The more realistic of us just want England to win.

  • Rooney is merely average in an England shirt, if he didn't play for ManU he wouldn't get in the first 11.

  • england need to look backwards

    bring back crouch and owen to play alongside a 34 year old lamps and 32 year old gerrard

    we need tony daley and andy sinton roaring down the wings too in Brazil 2014

  • Checked on Wikipedia (must be true...) and it turns out Rooney's scored most of his goals against "weak" opposition too...I'm guessing that argument of Crouch only scoring against weaker teams can probably be applied to all of our current strikers...

  • You say that Crouch is mediocre, but aren't we forgetting something - England are a mediocre international team. One thing is sure, Crouch is always likely to score, especially against lesser sides, the sides we seem to struggle against. Fact is England aren't very good. I took my rose-tinted glasses off a few yrs ago.

  • I used to be a big Crouch fan, and would often cite his goals to games ratio whenever people questioned why I thought he should be in the squad.

    But sorry, I'm an England fan first and foremost, and whether it's a friendly only or just to be on standby - if you're asked to play for your country, you play. You don't put conditions on it and complain when you're let down.

    Same for Micah Richards.

  • Listen, I want to play for England too but neither of us are good enough, Peter.

  • 96.diesel001

    The rate we are going, this will be our England team in 10 years time:

    Hart
    G Johnson Terry Ferdinand A Cole
    Milner Lampard Gerrard J Cole
    Rooney Crouch
    _____________________________

    Beckham will be disappointed to be left out of that team...

  • Crouch put himself in exile when he refused to help out the team and the manager by being a reserve. I like Crouch as a person, but he made a massive error in judgement there. Careers in football don't last long and he should have jumped at the chance of being involved at all. He'll regret it later in life.

  • The rate we are going, this will be our England team in 10 years time:

    Hart
    G Johnson Terry Ferdinand A Cole
    Milner Lampard Gerrard J Cole
    Rooney Crouch

  • 68.
    Birmingham City League Cup Win Then take into account how many times Rooney was played out of position stuck out on the wing

  • @7.

    I agree with you that he is an average footballer, but if you actually look at who is 22 goals were against he did score against some decent international side. I know that his goals came against teams like Jamica, Trinidad, Andorra.

    But he did get goals against, Croatia, Ukraine, Mexico and France. Although they aren't top top side, they aren't minors either.

  • He has never let England down and has a good goals/games ratio.
    I for one was disappointed when he did not go the the Euros. Maybe Hodgson will pick him in the future, but for now I think, barring injuries, he will have to wait.

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