King confident he can answer England call

Adrian Curtis13 April 2012

England new-boy Ledley King is confident his country can rely on him if he plays in Wednesday's friendly against Holland in Amsterdam.

King, who is certain to be included in Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad when it is announced tomorrow evening, told Standard Sport: "I've always been confident enough in my own ability and I would not let anyone down. I am ready for the chance.

"I know it's only been my first full season and I realise I have still got a lot to learn, but playing for England is something that I've always hoped for. It's a great thing for me and I don't think I had a bad game in front of Sven-Goran Eriksson when we beat Bolton in the FA Cup on Tuesday.


"It would be great for me to play alongside Sol Campbell for England because he was the one I looked up to as a youngster at Spurs. He played in the same position and he has similar attributes to me. He is the player I have modelled myself on."

King's England call-up may make Dean Richards, his central-defensive partner for Leicester's visit tomorrow, feel like a forgotten man.

The former Southampton player is cup-tied and misses out on a Worthington Cup Final place against Blackburn in Cardiff on 24 February. It also looks unlikely he will feature at international level in the near future. There was a time when Richards was touted as a possible England regular, but he merely smiles politely as his young partner King takes the plaudits.

Richards said: "Ledley has every chance of going to the World Cup. The thing with Ledley is that for his age, he is remarkable in that nothing fazes him in the slightest. I'm sure that he could step into the international team, play his normal game and be as confident as he is for us.

"I've been so impressed by him, it's unbelievable at times. He has so much strength and composure and he has everything to go on and be England's No 1 centre-half for years.

"He's not only good on the ball, he is a first-class defender and has everything.

"Some people think he is not that commanding on the pitch, but they forget he is only young. But Ledley talks when he needs to and that's all he really needs to do."

Tottenham's league form has been in freefall while they have shone in the cups. The fans will expect that cup success to be transferred to the Premiership against a Leicester side many believe are down already.

But Richards warned: "Leicester will be very focused and we will have to put in the same kind of performance we did against Bolton in the FA Cup. They are very organised and they put lots of balls in the air for their strikers.

"If you make one mistake in the Premiership, it invariably leads to a goal, so I will not make the mistake of thinking that Leicester will be easy."

Spurs have no new injury worries, but manager Glenn Hoddle will have to decide whether to risk striker Les Ferdinand, skipper Teddy Sheringham and defender Chris Perry.

All three sat out the FA Cup win over Bolton because they are one booking away from a ban that would mean them missing the final against Blackburn.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in