Johnson out to prove his worth

The Manchester City winger has revealed his determination to convince Fabio Capello he should be part of his World Cup squad after making his England breakthrough.

Adam Johnson has revealed his determination to convince Fabio Capello, the coach, he should be part of his World Cup squad after making his England breakthrough. The Manchester City winger, 22, won his first cap as a late substitute during the 3-1 win over Mexico at Wembley on Monday. Johnson has one more opportunity in Sunday's clash with Japan in Graz, Austria, to stake his claim to be on the plane for South Africa as part of Capello's final 23.

The former Middlesbrough player said: "The competition for places is fierce. The training has been really sharp with everyone trying to impress the manager and obviously he has a really tough decision to make. The squad announcement is very close now. It's just around the corner. Everyone is fighting for their place and trying extra hard. Now we go back to Austria and we have one more game. I'll give it my all.

"For me it's my first squad. Everything that comes, I'll take, because I'm not used to this kind of thing. Every training session, I'll do my best and relax and try not to think about it [the squad announcement]. There's obviously some people who are going to be disappointed but, you never know, maybe I won't be one of them." Milovan Rajevac, the Ghana coach, insists he still has enough time to work with his players after only just meeting with most of his 30-man squad in Paris.

Twenty members of the team left Accra on Sunday evening for their French base and will be joined by the remaining 10 European-based players - including Chelsea's Michael Essien, John Mensah of Lyon, Kevin-Prince Boateng from Portsmouth and Inter Milan's Sulley Muntari. There have been questions raised before the departure that the camp may be too short, but Rajevac insists otherwise. "We will have to be patient and see as we start our work," he told the Ghana Football Association website. "There will be enough time to work with the players. All [players] will get the chance during the warm-up games ."

The Black Stars, who are making a second World Cup appearance following their debut four years ago, are in Group D for the finals, alongside Germany, Serbia and Australia. They play friendlies against Holland in Rotterdam on Tuesday and against Latvia in Milton Keynes on June 5, before flying out to South Africa a day later. * Agencies