Carlton Cole has spoken of his determination to get on the scoring trail with England and fire the nation to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The West Ham United striker won his fourth cap off the bench in Saturday's 2-1 win against Slovenia and yet again came close to his first goal for his country. "I am the nearly man at the moment," he said. "I have had four appearances and nearly scored in three of them. I can't wait til I get my first goal. I need it."
The 25-year-old is taking nothing for granted though in terms of selection with Wednesday night's potentially decisive qualifier against Croatia in sight. "It is up to Mr Capello. Hopefully I can get a bit of action," he said. Cole knows he needs to dislodge the weekend starters Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey, while Jermain Defoe was a scoring substitute at Wembley and Peter Crouch is also waiting in the wings.
"Every game counts. It is a race to get on the plane. We have got some quality forwards. I am in and amongst it. I just want to keep my club form and get to where I want to get to. I am trying to get there. I have got to be focused at all times, try my best and hopefully Mr Capello will keep picking me."
Cole may be uncertain about his own place but has no doubt that Robert Green deserves to be the starting goalkeeper. He said: "Rob is second to none. His confidence is always high. He knows what he can do I would say he is up there with the best in the country. David James is quality, Ben Foster is quality, you got Scott Carson coming in, Paul Robinson - there is great competition He will be on his toes.
"Sometimes people have to understand that keepers at this level get slaughtered for one mistake. Hopefully Robert doesn't make one. He will do well [if selected against Croatia]. I have 100 per cent faith in him. He is my team-mate and I know what he can do. I see it every day on the training pitch and in matches. He has been brilliant."