Sunderland Football Club

• Nickname:Black Cats
• Founded:1879
• Manager:Paolo Di Canio

• Ground:Stadium of light
• Capacity:48353

Bruce backs Bent to shine for England

05 Oct 2010 - 15:49:47

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Manager Steve Bruce has backed Sunderland striker Darren Bent to enjoy success on the international stage with England.

The 26-year-old has been hailed as an important player by national team head coach Fabio Capello, having opened his goalscoring account for England in their 3-1 Euro 2012 qualifying win over Switzerland last month.

Bruce told the Sunderland Echo: "I'm delighted for Darren that his England career is up and running again, he totally deserves it.

"He's a top-quality professional, but more importantly than that, he's also a proven and prolific goalscorer in the league I regard as the toughest in the world.

"How many Englishman can claim that? Not many. It was great to see him back in the squad the other month and great to see him on the scoresheet.

"Now that he's done that, his next target is to be an England regular and I think that's something that is in his grasp - the sheer number of goals he has scored over the years has to count in his favour.

"He's scored an awful lot of important goals for Sunderland already and you wouldn't bet against him doing exactly the same for England now that it looks like he's going to get a run."