James Milner believes Saturday's friendly international against Brazil in Doha will be the ideal yardstick to measure how far England have progressed. The Aston Villa winger sees the clash with the former world champions as a chance to see how good England are in reality and the winger would dearly love for the game to be a dress rehearsal for the final in eight months' time.

The 23-year-old said: "This is a great preparation game. You obviously want to play the best teams before a major tournament.

"If I was lucky enough to get on the field against a team like Brazil it would be fantastic, but it is all preparation for the summer. There are not too many better teams to test yourself against, and see how ready you are for a World Cup, than playing Brazil.

"They have been fantastic over the years and it would be nice to play them in the final next summer."