England goalkeeper Paul Robinson had a hand in one of the more spectacular gaffes witnessed outside of a 5 a side match (or for that matter, Loftus Road) during Wednesday’s 2-0 Euro 2008 qualifer loss to Croatia. Sounding like someone who’s only just learned that football matches are televised, Robbo reminds us he’s never done anything nearly as stupid before. From the Independent’s Gordon Tynan.

“I have come in for a lot of criticism. I look at the incident and it was just a ridiculous fluke,” he said yesterday. “For it to be reported as a mistake, as my fault … I can’t see what I did that wrong. Goalkeepers make mistakes and I’ve made mistakes as well that have cost goals but nothing like that has ever happened to me before.

“To be treated the way I have been saddens me. I’m very disappointed with the way it’s been reported. I was not expecting to wake up to the barrage of abuse I received.”

The former MetroStars need a win in tonight’s regular season finale against Kansas City in order to leapfrog the Wiz and claim the 4th and final Eastern Conference playoff spot. FSN NY will carry the match via tape delay at 10pm, thus avoiding a conflict with the Flyers/Devils game taking place across the parking lot.