• England

Townsend keen for international longevity

Tottenham winger Andros Townsend is refusing to let his international career fade away as the World Cup looms on the horizon.

The 22-year-old enjoyed a stellar introduction to the England setup after scoring and providing an assist against Montenegro in October.

Townsend then followed up that performance with another strong showing against Poland.

But despite again being named in manager Roy Hodgson's squad for the friendlies against Chile and Germany, Townsend will not let complacency get the better of him with a spot at Brazil 2014 on the line.

"It does sound good, being called an England international, but I have had two games and there have been a lot of players who have started their international careers well and have faded away," Townsend told FA TV.

"I can't let that happen to me, I have to keep playing well and try to force my way onto the plane next summer.

"We have a big, fantastic squad and every one of us is going to be trying to impress in training and the games to try and get to Brazil.

"There aren't many opportunities from now until the summer to play for England and impress the manager so everyone will be giving 100 per cent and looking to catch the manager's eye."

And Townsend believes the upcoming friendlies will be the perfect chance for players to prove themselves against some of the "top nations".

"I think [the friendly against Germany] is a great opportunity to test ourselves against the best going into next summer," Townsend added.

"We can see where we are, we can see what we need to work on and see how far we have got to go to be one of the top nations, so it's a great friendly.

"Chile have got some fantastic players, no more so than Alexis Sanchez, who plays for Barcelona, so it's not going to be an easy game.

"It will be a great occasion. They will come here looking to try to win the game so it should be a good open encounter and I'm looking forward to it, should I get the chance to step onto the field."

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