Peter Crouch explains why Tottenham would be worthy Cup winners and how he keeps scoring for England
For once, the road to Wembley for Peter Crouch did not take place in an executive bus with police escort to whoosh him underneath the stadium and into its bowels before he could catch more than a passing glimpse at the arch. Last week, one of England’s most conspicuous players pulled into one of the retail parks in the shadow of the national arena and parked outside a closed-down MFI. He hopped out of his car and ambled up the steps.
A passer-by did a slow-motion double take, his face squashed into comedy confusion. There was something strangely out of context about seeing an England international footballer strolling out of a soulless trade centre on an ordinary evening in his civilian clothes. And yet, of all the members of Fabio Capello’s squad, Crouch is the man you can bank on to show the fewest airs and graces.
The uncomplicated friendliness and willingness to poke fun at himself has remained unchanged from the days when a teenaged Crouch was shipped out on loan to IFK Hasselholm in Sweden to today, when he is important enough to have his signature beamed in massive magnification on to the glass front of Wembley as a figurehead for the England 2018 World Cup bid. “I really don’t understand why anyone would put their head in the clouds,” he says. “I do a fantastic job for a living, I get to play in front of 90,000, and obviously everyone knows your name and what have you. But I’m no better than anyone else.”
Because a lot of football watchers were sceptical about the worth of a player who appeared to have got lost on his way to the basketball court, it has taken Crouch time to be appreciated, for the gags and chants about his giraffe physique to wind down. Perceptions have been modified. At international level, his strike ratio for England – on goals per minute he is superior to Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe and even Jimmy Greaves – makes him invaluable as South Africa approaches. At club level, he feels valued in a team that today takes on cobbled-together Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi-final and then turns attention to the quest for a top-four league finish. Exciting times.
Naturally, the floating vote will hope for Portsmouth to strike a blow for the impoverished underdog against Tottenham. It is a tall order for Crouch to mount a convincing argument that his current club’s need is greater than his former, but he has a good go. “It has been too long since Tottenham won the FA Cup,” he says. “Portsmouth have won the Cup recently so it’s our turn. I do feel for them, the plight they are in. I still have a lot of friends there behind the scenes. But we have a job to do on Sunday to make sure we win for Tottenham Hotspur. I hope we get the job done and they recover from the position they are in.”
Either way, there will be precious little time for reflection come Sunday evening. Having occupied fourth place for a considerable time, Tottenham slipped out of the Champions League zone with that chaotic stumble at Sunderland, and now face three hazardous opponents in succession. At this delicate time, the fixture list has dealt them Arsenal, then Chelsea, then Manchester United. Crouch concedes it is not ideal: “It’s difficult because if you look at the teams around us they probably have an easier run-in than we have. But I look around our squad and think we can get points from those games. Two of them are at home, and, regardless of who we play, on our day we have enough ability to get results from any match. We have got to a stage where we are challenging for the top-four, our rightful place. It’s where you want to be, in the hunt for a Champions League place and in the FA Cup like we are. My decision to come to the club was right.”
Crouch feels he has so much more he wants to achieve. England looms large in his aspirations. His record of 20 goals from 37 appearances makes it understandable were he to feel a little disappointed not to be in the starting XI when England open their 2010 World Cup campaign against the US in Rustenburg on 12 June. “I’ll do everything in my power to start that first game. It’s the manager’s decision but what I will do is try to give him the biggest headache possible,” he says, grinning. “I am very proud of my goal record for England. I’ve always felt that when I play I have never let anybody down. It was great to score a couple of goals in the last game.”
The mere act of pulling on his national shirt gives him a sense of invincibility he finds difficult to explain, as if he goes through a Clark Kent transformation. “I don’t know why but playing for England I always feel I am going to score. I feel great, I really do,” he says. “I have always felt that when I get chances I will score goals. Playing with England, I look round and there are so many creative players the chances will definitely come.”
There is, Crouch reckons, another emotion driving the team. The resolve to make amends for the failure to qualify for the last major tournament, the European Championship two years ago. “There is an underlying determination to succeed,” he says, pointedly. “What we have got is the confidence that comes from qualifying extremely well. We didn’t lose a game until late on. All of us have that belief in ourselves.
“But we don’t want to shout and scream about it. At the last World Cup a lot of people talked us up. As players, and the manager as well, we’d rather keep quiet and do our talking on the pitch.”
Peter Crouch was at Wembley to support BT’s “Back the Bid” flag for the England 2018 World Cup bid. You can add your name or photo to the flag at bt.com/2018
Tottenham HotspurFA CupEnglandAmy Lawrenceguardian.co.uk
