Gabriel Agbonlahor hopes positive form with Aston Villa will earn him a recall to the England squad.
Villa forward eager to prove Capello wrong
Gabriel Agbonlahor is hopeful a positive start to the season with Aston Villa will earn him a recall to the England squad.
Agbonlahor will miss Wednesday's friendly with Czech Republic at Wembley after being overlooked by England manager Fabio Capello, who has offered Wigan's Emile Heskey a return to the international scene.
Capello named Agbonlahor in his first squad for the victory over Switzerland in February, but the forward was forced to withdraw due to injury, while the nine-time Under 21 international was an unused substitute for the meetings with USA and Trinidad & Tobago.
And after hitting a quick-fire hat-trick in Villa's 4-2 Premier League win against Manchester City on Sunday, Agbonlahor is eager to catch Capello's eye in the future.
"It is obviously disappointing not to be selected and you want to be playing for your country," said Agbonlahor.
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"But if Mr Capello doesn't put you in the squad then we have to go out, like on Sunday, and prove him wrong.
"That is all you can do really. All we can do is play good football for our clubs. It is out of our hands whether or not we are selected.
"Mr Capello does come to Villa quite a lot and I am not going to give up. We have just got to keep doing the business for our club. That is all we can do.
"Then if he doesn't want to pick us, he doesn't want to pick us.
"But I want to play for my country. I've played for the Under 21s and I want to be in the full squad, I want to get on the pitch and play and hopefully I can do that.
"But, at the moment, all I can do is my best for Villa and, if I get picked, I get picked."
