Manchester City stopper Joe Hart, currently having a successful loan spell with Birmingham City, has every intention of becoming England's No 1 at this summer's World Cup. The 23-year-old is included in the squad to face Egypt at Wembley on Wednesday, and he is desperate for another opportunity to prove his worth as he believes he is capable of becoming a firm fixture in England's starting XI.

"I'm not England's first-choice goalkeeper, but that's the target," Hart said in the Daily Express.

"Whatever comes with it I can cope. If I couldn't, I wouldn't be talking about it.

"I'm not saying I've had people against me, but my age does go against me some times.

"Stuff you do goes against you - you've just got to look at Jamo [David James]. He's had everything thrown at him, I don't think he can have any more thrown at him.

"But it doesn't faze the guy. He's been absolutely brilliant. That's the kind of person you've got to look at."

Hart is expected to start against Egypt and is hoping the game will help him to book a seat on the plane to South Africa this summer.

"Just to be involved with England means the world to me, but the World Cup is something different," he added.

"Being in the normal squad, seeing how these superstars do it - and they are superstars, great players - just to see how they go about things, how people prepare themselves really does help.

"Being at the World Cup and not playing, like Theo Walcott last time, that wouldn't be a disappointment for me. To be picked in that elite 23 would mean everything.

"I'll work every day to be involved in it. If I'm not picked I can look back at my season and think I gave everything, no regrets."