Bent anguish at England axe

Sunderland striker Darren Bent admits he was hit hard by Fabio Capello’s decision to leave him out of England’s final 23-man squad for the World Cup.

Despite scoring 25 goals for Sunderland last season, making him the second highest English goalscorer in the Premier League behind Wayne Rooney, there was no place for Bent on the plane to South Africa.

Capello opted to take just four recognised forwards to the finals and called Bent with the bad news on Tuesday as he trimmed his provisional 30-man squad by seven players.

Bent, who has six England caps, paid the price for delivering lacklustre displays and failing to score in his most recent international starts against Brazil and Japan.

“I feel really disappointed. I have always said to myself, if you play well and do your best for Sunderland, then there is a chance you can go to the biggest tournament in the world. But obviously on this occasion it has not worked out,” Bent told Sunderland’s website.

Bent believes he can still get back into the England set-up if he produced another fine season with Sunderland and he insisted he held no grudges against Capello or his squad.

“Straight away from when Mr Capello spoke to me and told me I wouldn’t be involved in the 23-man squad my thoughts turned to next season and how I can improve on what I have done for Sunderland this year,” he said.

“I am going to take some time off now and rest my bones after what has been a great season for me and get ready for next year. It’s a case of fully concentrating on my football for Sunderland and doing my best for them.

“Of course, I still want the boys to do well. I have got a lot of friends in the England set-up. They are a great bunch of lads and, even though I won’t be there, I will be supporting them.”