Almunia may regret choosing England, says Green

Green, whose West Ham team travel to Emirates Stadium tomorrow, believes Almunia - who is eligible to apply for UK citizenship in 2009 and has never represented Spain - should think carefully before making a decision.

"In some respects it's difficult to make a case that football should be different to other sports," said Green.

"Why, for instance, should it be any different from cricket? People like Alan Lamb and Graeme Hick played for England years ago yet were not born in this country.

"When there is freedom of movement, it is difficult in some respects to say it would be wrong if Almunia was considered to play for England but on a purely patriotic level it's one thing to have a foreign manager and quite another to have foreign players in the England team.

"If he was to play for England, then there would be an obvious scapegoat there if it all went wrong.

"It's the lad's choice though. If he wants to do it then fair enough, the more healthy competition the better but personally, I would think twice if I was him."

Green, who has been in fine form this season, also believes he would have saved Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty in Saturday's 2-1 win for the Hammers, had it been on target.

"I showed him a lot of room to my left then dummied that way before going to the right," he said.

"It was just a horrible strike. I would have liked him to have hit the target because I think I would have saved it. For a player of that quality it was surprising but it just happens like that sometimes.

"He must have hit thousands of shots in training and sometimes they just don't come out right. He normally stops and looks to see where the keeper's going. This time he didn't and I don't know why."