Darren Bent for England

Love it or hate it international football is the stage where every pro footballer wants to test himself against the best. Whether you are Papua New Guinea or Spain (Spain are currently ranked number 1 in the official FIFA world rankings and PNG are 202nd). England are seventh. The upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup will bring together 32 teams that have qualified for this years tournament and England once again have drawn a decent group with our opening game against the USA in Rustenburg on the 12th of June. As yet the final England team that Fabio Capello will be taking to South Africa is unknown however the current squad was something i wanted to look at in a bit more detail and yes as a Sunderland AFC fan i wanted to state the case for Darren Bent. Player by player goalscoring records since the last World Cup at club level going back to the 2006/7 season. Emile Heskey has scored 20 goals Carlton Cole has scored 25 goals Peter Crouch has scored 32 goals Gabriel Agbonlahor has scored 43 goals Jermaine Defoe has scored 49 goals Darren Bent has scored 55 goals <-- updated 25th April Wayne Rooney has scored 64 goals From a purely goal scoring perspective since the last world cup then Wayne, Jermaine and Darren are on the plane right? If you are going with in form players having their best ever seasons this season then Wayne (26) Darren (22) Jermaine (17) and Gabriel (11) are on the plane. Suggestions are towards a strike partner for Wayne Rooney, personally i do not believe he needs one he is that good, he is creating chances out of nothing and thankfully he is over his recent injury and coming back to fitness again. Peter Crouch is in what would seem unbelieveable form for England with 20 in 37 caps admittedly some of those were against what are lower FIFA ranked opposition and some would argue that no international games are easy, but what Crouchy gives England is that target man if ever we needed one and his height is a nightmare for any opposition equal to the threat of Wayne and Darrens pace when they turn it on. Over too many years Sunderland AFC has not produced a steady flow of players with the ability to play for England and banging in the goals at club level seemingly does not guarantee a place in the starting line up. Kevin Phillips for his trouble of setting post war records on Wearside could only manage 8 caps despite netting 61 goals in the premier league over 4 seasons he was never given a full ninety minutes for England. Darren Bent has the opportunity to change all of that and if Fabio IS to choose the in form players then surely Darren can not be overlooked. "The important thing is how the players perform on the pitch and not what happens outside" - Fabio Capello If the media want to point stinky fingers then there are very few players that are squeaky clean in the potential England squad so let`s not go there. Whatever happens this Summer in South Africa i will be glued to the telly, after all we have waited 60 years to avenge the defeat to the USA in 1950. Sunderland fan on twitter? England fan on twitter? tweet this Sources http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8545447.stm http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/ http://www.thefa.com/England/Team http://www.thefa.com/England/News/2009/POTY09_Bent http://www.thefa.com/England/Results http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphile/wc2010/city_guide/rustenburg.html http://www.premierleague.com/page/Statistics/0,,12306,00.html