West Ham United goalkeeper Joe Hart has admitted he still dreams about World Cup glory with England after the Three Lions qualified for next summer’s tournament yesterday evening.
Gareth Southgate’s side booked their flights to Russia with a 1-0 victory over Slovenia at Wembley thanks to a late Harry Kane goal.
Hart was named Man of the Match for his performance in which he denied the Slovak attack on multiple occasions, including pulling off a marvellous double save to deny the visitors late on with the score at 0-0.
Following the result, Hart says he now cannot wait to pull on the White jersey for his country on the big stage again.
“I’m still a little boy dreaming and we have a World Cup to look forward to now. People have the same dreams as me and we feel we can really stick together and make something happen.” Hart told whufc.com.
“Reaching Russia is really massive for us, it’s huge. It’s a big step after a not very successful end to the last campaign, but we’ve not let that get us down.
“We’ve got the results when we’ve needed to and we’ve qualified with a game to go.”
Hart remains England’s number one despite heavy competition from the likes of Jack Butland and Fraser Forster, and with performances like that of last night, the Manchester City loanee hopes he can retain his number one jersey for next summer.
“I feel good. But you know what football is like. I want to stay the same guy as when I let ten goals in in three games.” he added.
“It’s always nice to come into the break with wins, but I can into the last one on the back of three losses, and the focus stays the same. I’ve got to be the same goalkeeper whether I’m letting goals in or keeping clean sheets because it’s such an up and down game.
“You’ve got to keep calm, mentally keep in the right place.”
Hart and England round off their qualifying campaign against already eliminated Lithuania on Sunday.
