Darren Bent Deserves England Shot - Woodgate

Tottenham Hotspur's Jonathan Woodgate has tipped club-mate Darren Bent to shine against Germany on his return to the England team...

19-Nov-2008 9:50:42 AM

EPL: Darren Bent, Tottenham Hotspur - Portsmouth (PA)

Bent was recalled to the Three Lions squad to replace injured duo Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney for tonight's friendly in Berlin, bringing an end to his 12-month exile from international football.

The 24-year-old striker's last game for his country resulted in disaster as Croatia claimed a 3-2 win at Wembley to eliminate Steve McClaren's men from EURO 2008.

But after hitting a golden run of form for Spurs, the former Charlton Athletic man looks likely to start against Joachim Löw's Mannschaft - and rightly so, according to Woodgate.

"He deserves it," the former Real Madrid defender said in The Sun. "I said he’d score goals if he had a run of games. Darren’s in great form."

Woodgate was overlooked by Fabio Capello, who instead called up untried youngster Michael Mancienne in place of the unavailable Rio Ferdinand.

Cecil Braun