"It's taken me a good three years to convince the manager I am the man for the job so I am not going to give it up lightly," he said.England's next match is an August friendly in Denmark before they resume their World Cup qualifying campaign with two double-headers against Wales and Northern Ireland in September, then Austria and Poland in October.Assuming qualification is achieved, Eriksson will then begin the process of fine-tuning his team and squad while praying there are no major injuries.Possible World Cup squad: Robinson, James, Kirkland; G Neville, Carragher, Campbell, Ferdinand, Terry, King, A Cole, Bridge; Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, J Cole, Carrick, Wright-Phillips, Hargreaves, Downing; Owen, Defoe, Rooney, Crouch. However, both those players are offensively minded and their desire to go forward has at times left England unbalanced and the defence vulnerable. Eriksson also successfully negotiated what could have been an embarrassing tour of the United States, not only winning twice but also finding a player or two.Chief among those is Michael Carrick. While Tuesday's victory over Colombia confirmed the value of Michael Owen, whose hat-trick moved him into the top four in the England goalscoring records, it was the quiet man in midfield who gained most from the tour.A year ago Carrick was injured and contemplating another season of Championship football with West Ham. As recently as September he was unable to get into the Tottenham team. Now he is in line to play a key role in next year's World Cup finals.In New Jersey on Tuesday, Carrick confirmed the good impression he had made against the US in Chicago on Saturday with another mature performance in the midfield holding role.

He mopped up Colombian attacks, linked the play and gave shape to a patched-up England team."Carrick has proved that he's an option for the sort of role Nicky Butt plays," said Eriksson. "We've not seen him for a long time in the England team and he did very well He is a realistic alternative in midfield. He plays very solidly as a sitting midfielder, he's good on the ball, clever with his feet and has a good range of passing. He's been a real positive."Carrick admitted: "I've been satisfied with my form here It's a big year for me. I want to stay in the Tottenham team and go to the World Cup. I wouldn't go back to the situation at the start of the season when I couldn't even get into my club side."Given that Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard currently occupy England's two central midfield positions, it would seem Carrick will struggle to win a place in the starting XI. A year on, England are top of their qualifying group and brimming with belief, having won eight out of 11 matches and lost one - that a friendly in Spain.

A season which began unpromisingly for Sven Goran Eriksson ended in moderate triumph yesterday as he returned from America with reason to believe England will be genuine contenders at next summer's World Cup. Cole met Chelsea officials.JONATHAN BARNETTCole's agent, who verbally agreed a £60,000 per week contract extension for Cole at Arsenal but was later told they would not go above £55,000 Initially denied Chelsea meeting took place. Agents fall outside the Premier League's remit, but gave evidence.DAVID DEIN Arsenal's vice-chairman triggered the inquiry via a complaint to the League on 5 February. This followed a statement in which he said there was a "huge credibility gap" between media reports about the meeting and what Chelsea's chief executive, Peter Kenyon, had told him.JOSE MOURINHOThe Chelsea manager, who was at January meeting with Cole, was found to be in breach of the Premier League's Rule Q, governing managers' conduct He had said: "The facts are there I know nothing about it. Like Barnett, he does not fall under the jurisdiction of the League, and could not be charged, although the League could pass its findings to the Football Association.SIR PHILIP OTTON, QCThe former Lord Justice of Appeal chaired the disciplinary commission, alongside former Football League secretary David Dent, and Malcolm George, who was on the panel for the Liverpool-Ziege tap-up case..