ROBBIE FOWLER will go on to become an England great after getting off the international mark.
That is the bold prediction Ian Wright made after playing the pivotal role in the moment that saw the Toxteth terror break his England duck in their win over Mexico.
Wright probably deserved to score himself when he met Graeme Le Saux’s excellent 55th minute cross with a textbook header back across goalkeeper Adolfo Rios.
The Mexican netminder, perhaps summing up Wright’s England ill-luck, got his hand to the ball but only parried it straight onto Fowler’s head a few yards out, with the Liverpool ace ending a bizarre personal week on the perfect note.
But Wright had no time for bemoaning his own misfortune as he suggested he had contributed to a moment of English footballing history.
“Robbie can be around for England for the next 10 years,” Wright forecast.
“It’s up to him and how he approaches it. But he wants to achieve and do well, and he’s doing it the right way.”
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NORWICH City’s Keith O’Neill could walk right back into the firing line for the Republic of Ireland’s crucial World Cup trip to Macedonia on Wednesday – despite not even being named in manager Mick McCarthy’s original 20-man squad.
O’Neill is one of the new wave of Irish youngsters, uncapped at U21 level by previous boss Jack Charlton but the scorer of four goals in eight internationals under McCarthy.
He was injured in the 3-0 win over Macedonia in Dublin in October and has been kept out of the Norwich team for much of the season by ankle and groin problems.
But a goal against Swindon in the Canaries’ 3-0 win on Saturday led McCarthy to confirm his addition to the Irish squad, and the manager said: “He’s a big bonus for us.”
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DONEGAL slumped to their third consecutive defeat in the National Hurling League Division Three when they were emphatically beaten by Down at Ballyshannon.
The home side found life too difficult against the Ulster champions of a couple of seasons ago going down by treble scores.
Down’s first half goals came from Noel Sands after six minutes and Gerard McGrattan just before half-time.
Full forward and Allstar two years ago McGrattan wreaked havoc in the Donegal defence scoring 2-1 and he was ably assisted by the excellent Sands who notched 2-8 as Donegal struggled in vain to keep with the superior pace and technical skills of their opponents.
Down: G Clarke, B Mulligan, K Coulter, D Smith, M Mallon, P Coulter, M Coulter, S Murray, G Savage (0-5), B Coulter (0-1), M Braniff (1-0), J McCrickard, M Blaney (0-2), G McGrattan (2-1), N Sands (2-8). Sub: G Adair (0-1) for Blaney (50).
Donegal: J Boyle, C Dowds, S Doherty, B Walker (0-1), A McDermott, D McDermott, D Campbell, T Robinson, A Wallace (0-7), S Murphy, R Durack (0-2), M McCann (0-1), D Robb, J Doherty, P Flood. Sub: R McCumhaill for Robb (49).
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NEVILLE Southall has put his name forward for the vacant manager’s job at Everton.
The Wales goalkeeper is keen to make the move into management and would welcome a chance to take charge at Goodison Park in the wake of Joe Royle’s exit.
Southall indicated he had probably played his last match for Wales after winning his 91st cap in the 2-1 World Cup qualifying defeat at home to Belgium, and is clearly thinking of bringing the curtain down on his playing career.
