LEON OSMAN hopes to make his competitive England debut this week and has admitted his pride at retaining his place in Roy Hodgson’s squad.
The Everton midfielder forced his way into Hodgson’s plans after a string of consistent performances earlier this season, and made his debut in the friendly defeat to Sweden back in November.
He was called up for the international against Brazil in February, but did not feature. He has, however, retained his place in Hodgson’s squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against San Marino on Friday and Montenegro next Tuesday. And the 31-year-old says he is ready to take any chance that comes his way.
Osman said: “I just need to keep my head down, keep working hard and if another chance comes, I have got to take it. To still be in the squad means the world to me.”
Osman joined up with England’s squad on the back of an impressive performance against Manchester City at the weekend. His stunning 25-yard strike, as stand-in skipper, set Everton on their way to a valuable 2-0 win over the Premier League champions, seven days after their FA Cup dreams had been dashed so emphatically with defeat to Wigan Athletic.
“It was terribly disappointing last week,” he added. “For ourselves, for the fans, and we had it tough for a few days.
“But the only way we could put it behind us was by coming out on the pitchand getting a good result and putting on the performance we did. I think (the hurt) was plain for everyone to see. We didn’t turn up last week and we weren’t at the races. But we showed when we are at the races, like today, we’re a match for any team.
“It’s what we’ve got to concentrate on now, the league and getting as high as we can. I think we showed today it’s important to us and we want to win all our remaining games.”
On his goal, he added: “Joe (Hart) is a fantastic keeper and to beat him from that range, I can’t ask for more. I’m delighted.
“Maybe it bobbled a little bit as I hit it but it went in the back of the net and it gave us the goal we needed to go on and win.”
