Crouch ready to stake claim

Peter Crouch is determined to give Fabio Capello another reminder of his abilities when England face Brazil on Saturday.

The Tottenham striker has an excellent goalscoring record at international level and bagged another brace in the final World Cup qualifier against Belarus last month.

He is now looking to impress again as the Three Lions jet off to Qatar for an international friendly with one of the best sides on the planet.

"Any time you get the opportunity to play for England you have to try and take that and hopefully my performance and goals (against Belarus) will have given the manager something to think about," Crouch said on Sky Sports News.

"If involved in the game coming up then hopefully I can do a similar thing.

"I have been pleased with my goalscoring form for England. I always think I will get chances and I feel confident I will tuck them away."

Rivals

Crouch accepts that Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey will be his main rivals for a place in the final 23-man World Cup squad as they all have similar attributes.

However, Cole and Heskey will both miss the Brazil clash and Crouch recognises that he must seize his chance to shine.

"Wayne Rooney has started most games and it seems to be (about finding) a partner for him, which Emile has done exceptionally well," Crouch explained.

"Of all the players, myself, Carlton and Emile are of a similar mould whereas the likes of Jermain (Defoe) and Darren Bent are a different kind of player.

"Those two (Cole and Heskey) are not in the squad this time so it may be a chance for me to stake a claim."

Preparation

Crouch is relishing the chance to test himself against a team as strong as Brazil and feels such a challenge can only aid England's preparations.

"If we are going to have any aspirations of winning the World Cup we need to play the best," he said.

"We have to find out about their strengths and weaknesses and see how close we are to them.

"It is all about preparing for the World Cup. If we lose, we have time to adapt and see where we went wrong. But the basic point is to test ourselves against the top nations - and Brazil are one of those."