West Ham's Scott Parker Hopeful Of A World Cup Place With England
The Englishman impressed at Stamford Bridge on Saturday
By Anthony Sciarrino
West Ham United midfielder Scott Parker still hopes that he will receive a World Cup spot with England after his performance against Chelsea with Three Lions manager Fabio Capello on hand to watch the game.
Parker cancelled out Alex’s opener with a marvelous equalizer, beating Ross Turnbull with a long range strike to even the score at 1-1 after 30 minutes.
Chelsea eventually came out 4-1 winners, leaving West Ham close to the relegation zone, but Parker has an eye on a place in South Africa.
“I always think about England. When every squad is named, I think maybe I could have chance or come in if somebody gets injured,” Parker told The Mirror.
“I was in the squad for the game in Germany last season but if I’m being honest, I would have thought I would have been involved a little bit more now.
“All I can do is keep playing well for West Ham. That’s my main aim. If something comes of that, then brilliant.”
Parker has earned three caps for England, with the last one coming in the 3-2 defeat to Croatia at Wembley that assured the Three Lions would not go to Euro 2008.
Capello’s Italian compatriot and West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola was impressed with his midfielder’s performance against Chelsea.
“Scott is unbelievable,
“He scored a great goal but other than his goal, I thought he was excellent. There was a time at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second when he was totally in control of the midfield.”
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Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who felt his side deserved a point from the game.
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
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“The score made it look like it was an easy game, but it certainly wasn't.
(Strange... it looked pretty easy from where I was sitting, but hey.)
“I do not think it's over yet. I remember a clash between Milan and Deportivo la Coruna when Milan was also ahead by four goals, and in the end Deportivo eliminated Milan.
“I went into the Arsenal dressing room after the match to speak to Robin van Persie. I had agreed with him to swap shirts – my sons are big fans of his and he brought two for them. They will be delighted.
Van Bommel went on to talk about a possible move to PSV in the future, but was quick to point out his terms for the move.
“I've spoken with PSV, but we don't have an agreement yet. The club has to decide what they want.
“If Louis van Gaal turns out to be the new coach, I won't go.”
"Tonight everything went in the right direction and we did a very good match. You don't start a match thinking to win 4-0, but at the end i think we deserved it coz we played very well."
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