Until the text came through from the FA on Sunday night, Darren Bent would not believe it. He is the leading English goalscorer in the Barclays Premier League this season, he knew about the injuries to Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey and he had heard that Fabio Capello watched him on Saturday, but experience has taught the Sunderland striker to block out hyperbole. “Nothing surprises me any more,” he said.
It has been a lesson assimilated in painful circumstances. Four seasons ago, after mustering 22 goals for Charlton Athletic, Bent had been told that he was a shoo-in for the England squad for the World Cup finals in Germany; with Sven-G?ran Eriksson, then head coach, bizarrely elevating the 17-year-old Theo Walcott, it transpired that he was not. As at every stage of his career, Bent used the disappointment as motivation, throwing himself back into self-improvement.
On the back of his selection by Capello, the England manager, for this Saturday’s friendly fixture against Brazil in Qatar, there was no grandstanding or celebration, just two short messages on Bent’s famous Twitter page. “Appreciate all the goodluck messages,” he wrote. “Esp after a hard weekend. 1 Love.” And then later: “Thank all people connected to SAFC for making it possible again.”
Just as Bent’s elevation — he last played for his country 12 months ago, coming on as a substitute in the 2-1 victory away to Germany — is a fitting reward for the eight league goals he has scored this season, it is also a reflection of the progress made by Sunderland since Steve Bruce took over as manager in June. Club and player have integrated seamlessly; without hysteria, and forgetting the odd blip, they are taking care of business.
“It’s probably a case of me, how can I put it, thinking that nothing is 100 per cent definite until I’ve heard or seen the proof for myself,” Bent said. “A lot of people told me that I would definitely be in the last England squad, but that just didn’t cross my mind. I’m one of those guys who will always have those questions in my head until I see it, finally, for myself.”
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Missing a penalty three days ago against Tottenham Hotspur, his former club, will redouble Bent’s determination, in the same way that Eriksson’s decision in 2006 was used as a spur. “I remember feeling angry about it, but I also remember my dad being even more angry, because after the season I’d had, it had been put into my head that I would be going to Germany,” Bent said.
“Friends said there was no possible way I wouldn’t be there. Me being me, I had that uncertainty in the back of my mind. When Sven phoned me and told me I wasn’t going, it was shattering, but then I tried to come back the next season and do as well as I can. If I don’t get picked for this World Cup, I’ll do the same.”
Although he disagreed with Eriksson’s analysis, he respected it. “I haven’t seen Mr Eriksson since then,” he said. “I heard somebody say that he’d put me in his Fantasy Football team this year, but that’s about it! I just get on with it. It’s more the people I’ve heard criticise me — they’re the ones who go around in my head, who give me this drive and burning desire to shut them up.”
While there had been clamour for his international recall before England’s matches against Ukraine and Belarus last month, Bent, 25, had an inkling that he would not be picked. “There wasn’t much about me in the papers on the morning the squad was announced, so I sort of knew from then,” he said. “There wasn’t a buzz about me. And then I texted Aaron Lennon to see if he’d had a message from the FA and he had.
“As a front man, I’ve always believed that if you score a lot of goals, then you play for your country and, while for me it’s been the opposite, all I’ve done is keep going. The moment I stop scoring regularly, I can forget about it.
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“If I keep trying, keep working and Sunderland keep winning, which is the key, then hopefully Mr Capello will have to keep watching.”
Whatever happens, he will not be shocked.
Recipe for success
? Be a cereal goalscorer. Bent enjoys a pre-match Weetabix.
? Reflex-ology. The striker loves his computer games, particularly Call of Duty on his Xbox.
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? Tweet yourself. Bent’s Twitter page is a football phenomenon, with some 17,000 followers.
? Red and black and white. He may be a Sunderland player, but Bent has gratefully received advice from a Newcastle United icon. “Alan Shearer is probably the best striker to play in this country and he was absolutely brilliant with me,” he said.