Joe Hart

Charles Joseph John "Joe" Hart (born 19 April 1987) is an English football goalkeeper who plays for Premier League club Manchester City and the England national football team and was previously a regular for the England under-21 team.

Having made his competitive international debut in September 2010, Hart is now recognised as England's first choice goalkeeper.

Hart was nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2010 but lost out to eventual new team-mate at Manchester City, James Milner but was voted as the Premier League goalkeeper of the 2009–10 season in recognition of his performances at Birmingham City. He returned to Manchester City for the 2010–11 season and won the Barclays Golden Glove for keeping the most clean sheets throughout the Premier League season.

Manchester City

After a successful spell at Birmingham City, which earned him a place in the England squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Hart was chosen ahead of Shay Given to start the opening game of the 2010–11 season against Tottenham Hotspur. He produced a man-of-the-match performance, saving numerous challenging shots including a deflected effort from Benoît Assou-Ekotto, which helped City to draw the game 0–0. Hart also kept a clean sheet in Manchester City's 3–0 victory over Liverpool, where he was still first choice goalkeeper and made even more good saves, enhancing his reputation even further. Hart conceded his first goal of the season from a late penalty by Darren Bent in a 0–1 defeat at Sunderland.

Hart helped his team overcome Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final by producing an excellent early save to deny Berbatov the opening goal. The match ended 1–0 to City, thanks to a goal scored by Yaya Toure. Hart kept another clean sheet against Tottenham Hotspur to earn his team a place in the qualifying round of the Champions League for the first time, and another in the FA Cup final in which Manchester City beat Stoke 1–0 with another goal from Yaya Toure.

Hart was awarded the Barclays Golden Glove award for the most number of clean sheets in the 2010–2011 Premier League season (18). He also broke the Manchester City club record for the most clean sheets during a season (29) previously held by Nicky Weaver (26, but whilst the team was two divisions lower). At the Official Manchester City awards Joe Hart was awarded performance of the season for his excellent performance against Tottenham Hotspur in August 2010.

Hart's position as City's "number one" was cemented when Shay Given departed City for Aston Villa in July 2011.

International Career

Having been a regular in the England U21 squad, Hart was called up by Fabio Capello to the full England squad for the friendly matches against USA and Trinidad & Tobago. An unused substitute against USA, he made his debut against Trinidad & Tobago, on 1 June 2008 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain. He came on at half time for David James with England 2–0 up, eventually running out 3–0 winners.However, Hart's senior England debut did not earn Shrewsbury Town the expected bonus of £500,000 from Manchester City, as negotiated at part of his transfer in 2006, because it was not a competitive match.

Hart received a second call-up by Fabio Capello to face Czech Republic on 20 August 2008, but was not brought on. Hart was called up to the next England squad due to a drop-out from Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson. On 8 November 2009, he was called up for a friendly against Brazil.

Capello named Hart in his provisional 30-man squad for the 2010 World Cup. Hart played the second half of both of England's warm-up games, replacing Robert Green against Mexico and James against Japan, and kept a clean sheet in each case. All three goalkeepers, Hart, Green and James, were included in the final 23-man selection.

Hart did not feature in the World Cup but started England's next match, a friendly against Hungary, to earn his fourth cap. He conceded his first England goal in dubious circumstances when the ball appeared not to have crossed the line from a deflection from Phil Jagielka, and made a vital late save from Zoltan Gera as England won 2–1. Hart was given his first competitive cap in a Euro 2012 Qualifier, a 4–0 win v Bulgaria at Wembley, making three crucial saves, one of which he palmed away and set up a counter attack for an England goal. He won another two caps in Friendlys against World Champions Spain, keeping a clean sheet in an England victory, and against Sweden, again keeping a clean sheet for a 1-0 England win.

Thus far England have not lost a single game in which Joe Hart has played in goal.