Source: Team_Talk
Bent out to push World Cup case
Bent is hoping to use the remaining eight games of the Premier League season to persuade Capello he is worth a seat on the plane to the finals in South Africa.[LNB]The 26-year-old Sunderland striker scored a 20th league goal of the season for the first time on Saturday as he took his tally in all competitions to 21 with a double in the 3-1 home win over Birmingham.[LNB]Only Wayne Rooney, with 25, and Didier Drogba on 21 have scored more in the current Premier League campaign, and fellow Englishmen Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Emile Heskey are all behind him on the list.[LNB]However, Bent must still be considered as an outsider to make the squad and he knows all he can do is keep scoring for his club and hope he catches Capello's eye.[LNB]He said: "Of course every player wants to go to a World Cup, but at the same time, it is not up to me, really.[LNB]"All I have got to do is keep knocking them in and just go from there.[LNB]"It would be nice. Every time I score a goal, I get asked the question about England, but the only thing I can do is just keep doing what I am doing, keep performing well and keep playing well.[LNB]"Obviously if I go, I will be delighted and if I don't get picked, I have done myself no harm by scoring the goals I have."[LNB]Bent's stance reflects a personal modesty, but also a frank appreciation of where he currently stands in the pecking order.[LNB]However, there is little doubting the rehabilitation he has undergone since Spurs boss Harry Redknapp compared his finishing less than favourably to that of his wife Sandra.[LNB]The former Ipswich and Charlton frontman has been a revelation since his £10million switch from White Hart Lane to Wearside - he has contributed exactly half of all the goals his new club has scored in the league this season - and manager Steve Bruce admits he would not like to think where the Black Cats might have been had he not.[LNB]Bent set the ball rolling with just five minutes gone when he latched on to strike partner Benjani Mwaruwari's deflected shot to fire past Joe Hart from close range.[LNB]The delighted home fans had to wait just six more minutes for their new talisman to register once again, this time collecting Steed Malbranque's inviting pass before cutting inside defender Scott Dann and shooting firmly past the exposed keeper.[LNB]It would have been all over long before half-time had the excellent Hart not pulled off fine saves from Fraizer Campbell and Kieran Richardson, but opposite number Craig Gordon had to be equally resilient to deny Keith Fahey and Christian Benitez as what proved to be a concerted fightback got under way.[LNB]Birmingham got their reward on the hour when Cameron Jerome, who had earlier been denied by Gordon's legs, produced an adept finish and, had the Scotland international not managed to claw away Liam Ridgewell's looping 71st-minute header, City might have headed back to the Midlands with a point.[LNB]Campbell eventually calmed the frayed nerves inside the Stadium of Light when he turned home substitute Jordan Henderson's cross two minutes from time to complete a satisfactory return of eight points from four successive home games and ease his side 10 points clear of the drop zone.[LNB]Sunderland now head into tough away games at Aston Villa and Liverpool with confidence restored and their 14-game winless league run a distant memory.[LNB]However, Bent insists there is little room for relaxation.[LNB]He said: "We know how quickly it can change. A couple of games ago, we were looking over our shoulders and everyone was panicking.[LNB]"Now we have won a couple of games and got a couple of good results, everyone seems to be calm.[LNB]"But we are under no illusions that it is still going to be hard because we have got some really, really hard games coming up."[LNB]Birmingham slipped one place to ninth as a result of their defeat in the north-east, but manager Alex McLeish was able to consider the bigger picture with his side still 10 points better off than their big-spending hosts.[LNB]He said: "Sunderland beat us up here in the [Carling] Cup earlier in the season and I changed the team around, and we were well beaten that night.[LNB]"In the first half, I couldn't believe Sunderland could do that to my defenders, so credit to them.[LNB]"I knew we were a much better team than the one that played up here in the cup. We proved that in the second half and it was much more like the Birmingham that has got us to this stage of the season on 44 points."[LNB][LNB] World Cup Outright - Cash Back if England win Win Outright: England 11/2
