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Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott aiming for England's World Cup 2010 squad
Defender hopes club success puts him in Capello's thoughts...
By Zack Wilson
Lescott was on the bench for the Three Lions' recent friendly at Wembley against Egypt, but is determined to climb the pecking order between now and the summer.
"No-one enjoys being on the bench, whether for your country or your club. If you do, then you deserve to be there. I was disappointed, but I didn't go there expecting to play," he told City's official website.
"I know I've got to progress and improve at club level, then hopefully when an opportunity comes, I can do a job. But I'm pleased with the way things are going since I came back [from injury].
"This is a massive opportunity for us at City and for me as an international - hopefully we can continue our form, get fourth place, and I can go off to South Africa with the England squad."
Lescott has no firm idea of where he stands in Capello's plans, but is ready to roll up his sleeves and work hard at club level in order to improve his chances of making an impact in South Africa.
"He obviously thinks I'm in the top 24 players in the country, so you've got to be pleased to a certain extent but again, if you're there, you want to be playing. I'm no different to any other player in that respect," he added.
"Club form is how to convince him, definitely. You get picked at international level on your club form, so that's going to be a massive part of the run-in. If we can progress and get to the Champions League, then I'm sure that can only help me."
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"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
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