Source: Eurosport
Bruce backs born-again Bent
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce backed Darren Bent's mission to fire himself into Fabio Capello's World Cup plans after seeing him claim a double against Hull.
The £10million man, who was chased by Hull boss Phil Brown as well as Bruce this summer, set his side on the road to a comfortable 4-1 Barclays Premier League win at the Stadium of Light with an early penalty, and then helped himself to a second after the break as the Black Cats cruised to victory.
Bruce said: "You can see he is enjoying playing here, he is enjoying playing football again, he is enjoying being Sunderland's centre-forward."
He added: "I have been trying all summer to get him here because there aren't many centre-forwards.
"When you look at it and analyse it, there aren't many playing in the Premier League, so he must have an outside chance if he can keep producing the form he is in at the moment.
"The last World Cup, he got 22 goals for Charlton and didn't go, which I know upset him.
"But he can only just do his talking on the pitch and see where he gets to."
Bruce was delighted with defender Michael Turner, who made light of lining up against his former club in his first outing for Sunderland.
He said: "It was a big day for him. It's never easy, believe me, to play against your old team and your old mates.
"You can see why I brought him here - he wants to head it, he wants to tackle, he is no-nonsense. He is an old-fashioned centre-back and there aren't many of them, either, knocking around anymore. I am sure he will be a big, big crowd favourite here because he does all the things for me that a centre-back should."
