Defoe leads charge of WC wannabees

Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe is desperate to lead England's attack at next summer's World Cup but, like hundreds of high-profile players across the globe, the choice is not his to make.

With qualifying for the quadrennial showpiece drawing to a close, coaches such as Brazil's Dunga, Italy's Marcelo Lippi and England's Fabio Capello will already have a strong idea of who they want on the plane to South Africa.

Seats remain up for grabs, however, and aspiring players are fully aware that a well-timed burst of form could give them the chance to etch their names in World Cup folklore in the manner of Geoff Hurst or Roger Milla.

A prolific scorer at club level with West Ham United, Portsmouth and Spurs, Defoe has finally found his shooting boots at international level.

With five goals in his last five international matches, the diminutive 26-year-old Londoner is the Three Lions' in-form marksman but remains second-choice behind Aston Villa's Emile Heskey in Capello's starting line-up.

Heskey's greater physical presence creates more room for players such as Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard to work their magic but Capello concedes that Defoe has advanced a strong case for inclusion.

"I think Defoe is one of the best English strikers there is," the Italian said after the Spurs man netted twice in a 2-2 friendly draw against the Netherlands in August.

"He's very fast, technically he's good and he's always in front of the goal."

Defoe's recent form at least looks likely to guarantee him a place in the squad come June 2010, but the same cannot be said of Sunderland's Darren Bent.

Having struggled to nail down a first-team place at Tottenham, Bent joined the Black Cats for a fee that could rise to £16.5 million in the summer and has responded with seven goals in his first eight games - more than any other English striker in the Premier League.

He was left out of England's trip to the Ukraine, with Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor summoned as a replacement after Defoe was ruled out with a hand injury.

"He is a very, very good goalscorer and he is English," said Bent's club manager Steve Bruce. "There are not many of them around.

"He can only do what he is doing. Whether that is good enough for Mr Capello, we'll have to see."

One man who can sympathise with Bent's plight is Italian playmaker Antonio Cassano.

The hugely gifted but temperamental 27-year-old has guided Sampdoria to the Serie A summit.

But both he and strike partner Giampaolo Pazzini were ommitted from Lippi's squad for the world champions' matches with the Republic of Ireland, where a 2-2 draw on Saturday secured qualification, as well as Wednesday's game with Cyprus.

Italy's strikers have misfired in recent months, resulting in nationwide pressure from fans and pundits to get the in-form Cassano drafted into the team.

"He has developed the maturity of a great champion," said Sampdoria coach Luigi Del Neri earlier in the season.

"He is a player who deserves to be in the national side."

Like Cassano, Hamburg's Brazilian midfielder Ze Roberto has led his club to the top of the domestic championship, but unlike the Italian, Ze Roberto has 84 caps behind him and turned his back on the national side voluntarily.

Now, however, he wants back in.

"Resigning from the national team was the biggest mistake of my life," he said. "If Dunga calls me, I am there.

"It is my biggest dream to still play at another World Cup for Brazil, I want to be a world champion."

Over in France, Ze Roberto's compatriot Michel Bastos has pleaded for a first call-up.

The dynamic 26-year-old winger made a spectacular start to life at Lyon after joining from Lille in the summer, firing Les Gones to the Ligue 1 summit, and he, too, has revealed his desperation to pull on the hallowed yellow shirt.

"I'll play wherever Dunga wants me," he said. "I don't care.

"Even in goal, I've told him."