Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is telling Darren Bent his patience will eventually be rewarded with an England call-up. Bruce said: "No disrespect to Darren, but I wasn't that surprised because if you analyse Fabio Capello, he hasn't made many changes from the day he took over.

"He's an experienced manager - he's been there and worn the t-shirt - and thinks, why should he change anything when people have done well for him, as the England team have over the last 18 months?

"The clamour is for Darren. All he can do is keep playing well and I'm sure his chance will come, it's as simple as that.

"Whether he can break in now to a World Cup squad, who knows? There's still six months to go."