GARY CAHILL wants to regain his England place alongside pal John Terry… but concedes there is one slight problem.
And that stumbling block is the in-form Joleon Lescott.
Roy Hodgson’s squad prepare in Chisinau today for tomorrow’s opening World Cup qualifier against Moldova — with Ukraine coming to Wembley in Group H on Tuesday.
Chelsea star Cahill, 26, who has 10 caps, accepts he faces a battle to win back his spot after missing Euro 2012 with a fractured jaw.
Manchester City defender Lescott benefited from Cahill’s injury and impressed alongside Terry throughout the summer tournament.
Centre-back Cahill said: “When Terry and I have played together for England and Chelsea it has gone really well. He prefers left and I prefer right. The experience he has got has rubbed off on me.
“But I thought our defence was one of the positives from the Euros. This makes my job now a bit harder.
“I couldn’t make the impact I wanted to as I did not go, so it is harder now to fight my way back into a starting position.
“That’s because of the quality of the players — I’ve got to fight now to get myself back involved.”
Cahill’s absence at Euro 2012 followed his freak accident in a friendly at Wembley when he collided with keeper Joe Hart after being pushed by Belgium’s Dries Mertens.
Asked whether he received an apology from the player, Champions League-winner Cahill said: “Not personally. I think he did in the Press. I suppose a personal apology would have been nice.
“People were saying about the push and I don’t think it was great of him to do that. But I don’t think for any minute he thought he was going to break my jaw. It was just a freak — one of those things.
“Running into Hart is not the best person to chose. I probably should have run into Ashley Young!
“It was a big blow because it was going to be my first big tournament. To get that blow just before we set off was massively disappointing.”
By CHARLIE WYETT
