Johnson sends World Cup reminder to Eriksson
Crystal Palace boss Iain Dowie is adamant that Andrew Johnson still has a chance of making the England squad for the World Cup finals in Germany this summer.
The 25-year-old hit his 14th goal of the campaign to round off a 3-1 win over Stoke at the Britannia Stadium that took fifth-placed Palace six points clear of the Championship’s seventh-placed team, Preston.
For some, Johnson’s exclusion from the England squad for the 2-1 win over Uruguay, the last friendly before Sven-Goran Eriksson announces his final selection for the tournament, was seen as a final snub.
But Dowie was as impressed with Johnson’s brave and clinical finish as he was with the striker’s late break, which saw Michael Hughes hit the bar from less than five yards out.
He refuses to accept that the forward’s dreams of a World Cup place are over.
He said: “I don’t think you can say he hasn’t got any chance. His record is outstanding. At this stage of the season last year he had more goals than anyone in the Premier League now.
“He’s done it in the Premiership, he’s done it in this division and he gets goals, plus he creates goals.”
