Sunderland ace Bent deserves his moment

England manager Fabio Capello has included Sunderland striker Darren Bent in his latest squad ahead of this weekends friendly against Brazil. In doing so Capello has confirmed what many England fans have known for a few months; that the Sunderland ace deserves another chance to stake his claim within the international set up.

Bent has been in red-hot form this season, notching up an impressive 8 Premier League goals for the campaign so far. He lies in third position in the chase for the golden boot behind Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba, a commendable feat considering the quality of the service the Spaniard and Ivorian receive.  Bent’s move to The Stadium of Light has rejuvenated his career. It is no secret that the former Tottenham man experienced a torrid time at White Hart Lane, struggling to break into the first team and culminating in an argument with Chairman Daniel Levy over a rant on social networking site Twitter. Bent however has used this chapter in his career as motivation to spur him onto greater things with the Black Cats.

Although it is Bent’s recent Sunderland form that has earned him his place in Capello’s squad, it should be noted that throughout his career Bent has proved he is a out and out goal scorer. Despite being seen as somewhat of a failure at White Hart Lane, Bent still managed to rack up 25 goals in 79 appearances, a respectable record when you consider he spent much of this time on the bench. Bent’s role as a goal scorer will be welcome within the England camp as he could make for a good partnership with first choice striker Wayne Rooney. Rooney has many dimensions to his game and offers the team a lot that many other strikers do not, however this sometimes means he is unable to find himself in positions that natural goal scorers do. Both England and Rooney may therefore benefit from Bent’s role as a goal scorer.

An England recall is nothing more than Darren Bent has deserved. Many players may have let the frustration of not making previous squads affect their performances however Bent has used it as an incentive and has strived to improve his performances further. He has continued with a quiet confidence in his abilities and he has reaped the rewards of his hard work.

I believe it would be an accurate statement to claim Darren Bent is a confidence player. This can be seen by both his rich veins of form as well as the occasional baron spell. The recall will do wonders to the Sunderland man’s already high confidence. He is yet to score and international goal for England and will look to change that in this Saturday’s friendly in Qatar against Dunga’s samba kings Brazil. Bent has a chance to prove he can transfer his Sunderland goal scoring form onto the international stage and if he can score against five times world champions Brazil who’s to say he can’t score against any opposition. Saturday is both a fully deserved opportunity for Darren Bent and also a chance to stake his claim for a place in Capello’s provisional World Cup squad and I am one of many England fans who will be hoping it’s a successful afternoon for him.