Manchester City’s Joe Hart has insisted the curse of the England goalkeeper will not strike again as Roy Hodgson’s men touch down in Brazil.
England have had a number of goalkeeping howlers at World Cups, most notably David Seaman blunder against Ronaldinho and Robert Green in South Africa four years ago.
The Three Lions crashed out of the 2002 World Cup at the quarter-finals to eventual winners Brazil as Seaman helplessly watched a wayward 42-yard free-kick from Ronaldinho float overhead.
In South Africa Green had a similar calamitous moment after fumbling a long-range Clint Dempsey shot in England’s World Cup opener.
The mistake cost Green his place in the side for the rest of the tournament – with third-choice Hart watching from the side-lines.
In the four years that have past, Hart had firmly cemented his place as England’s number one, though he has had to deal with his own share of criticism for poor form with his club.
“Stuff happens,” he said. “You’ve got to be aware of that as a keeper. Incidents happen all the time. We try to move on and be positive.
“You know Greeny made a fantastic save not long after that goal and we ended up qualifying from the group, that was the main thing.
“You have to be positive and look forward. No one is going out there to make mistakes. The likelihood of it happening, you never know. You look to be positive.”
The back line has changed considerably in those four years, with Glen Johnson the only other player to have been involved in a World Cup.
The England defence has come in for flak during their three warm-up friendlies, but Hart remains upbeat ahead of their World Cup opener against Italy.
“We have set up well,” he said. “We have defended well since Roy’s come in, even before that.
“There are some great players to choose from and the main thing is as well as being solid at the back we look dangerous going forward.
“We feel a unit, as well as Gary and Jags the other day Jones and Smalling played.
“Everyone is ready, ready to fill in positions and everyone is looking forward to it.”
England begin their World Cup campaign against Italy on Saturday, where Joe Hart will likely come up against his former team-mate, Mario Balotelli.
The controversial Italian spent two-and-a-half years at Manchester City before moving back to his homeland to play for AC Milan.
“I enjoyed working with Mario,” Hart said. “He’s a great guy.
“He’s obviously a big personality and a talented player. Italy are full of talented players and we’ve got a lot of work to do on them this week.
“We’ve had to keep an eye on Peru, Ecuador and Honduras and now we move on to Italy.”
