Southgate visit vital for my Qatar dream
WILSON THRILLED TO STEAL SHOW
WHEN Callum Wilson drives home after scoring for Newcastle his kids sing him a terrace chant that has been revived at St James’ Park.
“Oh, Callum Wilson, ooh, ahh, I wanna know, can you score a goal…”
The answer has been yes. Six goals in nine starts. “Plus two assists,” he quickly adds.
It was a favourite when Alan Shearer was banging in 206 goals for Newcastle, and 30 for England.
Wilson wants to emulate the former No.9 on the pitch. He has sent a reminder to Gareth Southgate with his goals, and has made a fitness declaration to soothe any worries about his injury record.
“I’m nice and robust now,” is his message. Wilson has helped Newcastle to fourth place in the Premier League and is fully focused on Eddie Howe’s side.
But he is also driven to achieve a “childhood dream” to play at a World Cup.
Harry Kane, below, will lead the line in Qatar, but needs a deputy withWilson rivalling Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Tammy Abrahams and Ollie Watkins for the call.
Other attacking players vying to go are Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish.
Given 30 seconds to say why he should go to Qatar, Wilson replied: “We have unbelievable talent in the forward positions. All you can do is put your name forward with performances like last weekend. It helps when the manager comes to watch you. It’s not just the goals you see in the headlines – it’s the assists, hold-up play, movement. He gets to see that in the flesh.” Wilson, 30, has four caps, scoring once against the USA four years ago. Southgate saw him score twice against Aston Villa last week when he blew a kiss to the crowd after his goals.
Was it to Gareth? “He wishes!” said Wilson. “My family was there. The kids were there. Little moments like that are special, they’ll remember them when they grow up.
“I would love to play for England again. I’ve scored.
That’s all I can do. It improves my chances. After that, it’s down to the England manager.”
It may count against Wilson, who is in Southgate’s 55-man preliminary squad, that he has not been involved recently, and his injury record, including a lay-off in September.
Wilson said: “It was very frustrating. I haven’t been in the England set-up for a few years and I was going to have to do more on the pitch than others who have been in the squad. I had limited time. I scored on my return and haven’t looked back.”
As for Newcastle, how high can they go this season? “Who knows? All we can try to be is consistent,” said the striker. “We need to hit the ground running after theWorld Cup.”