Neville targets England call

Everton man identifies right-back opportunity

Last updated: 23rd March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Neville targets England call

Neville: England ambition

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Phil Neville has declared that he will 'fight tooth and nail' for a place in the England World Cup squad.

There are unlikely to be many spots still up for grabs as Fabio Capello considers his options for the tournament in South Africa this summer.

Neville believes there may be a vacancy as reserve right-back to Glen Johnson and there are not too many alternatives in the Premier League.

Manchester United defender Wes Brown's chances have been hit by injury, although Neville's brother Gary could be in Capello's thoughts after some impressive recent performances.

Neville junior has also caught the eye with Everton this season and hopes to get the nod when Capello names his final squad.

The versatile 33-year-old accepts that his time might have passed but believes he could still do a job for his country.

"I'd love to go but if I was going to be in a squad it would probably have been the last one, when there was no real right-back available," he said in the Daily Star.

"You think 'has my time come and gone?' but I've always treated England as the icing on the cake and if it comes, then great.

"If not, I'll just try and maintain my club form because me and Gary have always been level-headed about it."

Achievement

Neville has not played for England since 2007 and would love to play at the World Cup for the first time.

He continued: "It's the first time I've had a sustained run at right-back in my Everton career and there aren't too many available.

"There's Glen Johnson, while Wes Brown has been injured so there's possibly a chance as understudy to Johnson and I'll fight tooth and nail for it.

"I've not given up on it and still believe I'm good enough, it's up to me to make my performances better.

"I've been to three European Championships but always missed out on the World Cup.

"I'm relaxed about it because at this stage of my career it would probably be my greatest-ever achievement to go, but to be honest I think I'm well down the pecking order."