Neville to fight “tooth and nail” for World Cup call-up

Phil Neville admits that he is ready to fight for a place in England’s World Cup squad.

The defender made his 200th appearance for Everton at the weekend and still believes that he can do a job for his country.

“I’d love to go but if I was going to be in a squad it would probably have been the last one, when there was no real right-back available,” he said in the Daily Star.

“You think ‘has my time come and gone?’ but I’ve always treated England as the icing on the cake and if it comes, then great.

“If not, I’ll just try and maintain my club form because me and Gary have always been level-headed about it.”

He added: “It’s the first time I’ve had a sustained run at right-back in my Everton career and there aren’t too many available.

“There’s Glen Johnson, while Wes Brown has been injured so there’s possibly a chance as understudy to Johnson and I’ll fight tooth and nail for it.

“I’ve not given up on it and still believe I’m good enough, it’s up to me to make my performances better.

“I’ve been to three European Championships but always missed out on the World Cup.

“I’m relaxed about it because at this stage of my career it would probably be my greatest-ever achievement to go, but to be honest I think I’m well down the pecking order.”