DARREN Bent claims he can form a strike partnership with Wayne Rooney that will enable England to beat Brazil in Saturday’s friendly in Qatar.

Bent ended an eight-month international exile yesterday when he linked up with the other 23 members of Fabio Capello’s squad for this weekend’s game in the Middle East.

The Sunderland striker is hoping to win his fifth international cap, and with Emile Heskey absent through injury, Bent is hoping to start alongside Rooney in order to further his World Cup claims.

“It would be great to play alongside Wayne, and hopefully we can start up a partnership,”

said the Premier League’s leading English scorer. “I think I’m playing better now (than when he was last called up in the spring), and I’m really happy to be back in the England set-up.

“I’m confident England can beat Brazil. It should be a really good game and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Saturday’s game is one of just two that England will play before Capello names his provisional squad for the World Cup finals, and Steve Bruce has claimed that Bent’s versatility could earn him a spot in South Africa.

The 25-year-old remains something of an outsider, but Bruce claims his all-round game could yet catapult him into England’s 23-man party.

Sunderland’s record signing has proved his scoring prowess with eight successes in 12 matches, but his manager at club level insists there is much more to his game than putting the ball in the net.

“Darren is a top lad with an immaculate work rate, both on and off the pitch, and it’s a testament to his record and attitude that Mr. Capello has decided to add him to the squad,” said Bruce. “If you look at the number and type of goals he has scored this season, it shows what a wellrounded player he is.

“When we first signed him, I was amazed at his natural ability in front of goal, and said to myself, ‘This lad’s going to be a top player for this club, that’s for sure’.

“Goals like the one he scored at Old Trafford aren’t just about being in the right place at the right time. If you look at how much ground he covers in each game, it’s incredible.”

With Joe Cole and Theo Walcott likely to travel to South Africa as attacking midfielders, Capello is expected to name just four strikers in his squad for South Africa.

Provided they are fit, Rooney and Heskey are certain to be two of them, and Spurs striker Jermain Defoe, who scored three goals in three internationals at the start of the season, is also well-placed to survive the cut.

That would leave Bent competing with Peter Crouch, Carlton Cole, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Michael Owen for the final striking spot, and much will depend on what Capello wants from his fourth forward.

If he is looking for a backup to Heskey, then Crouch and Cole will find themselves battling against each other in the second half of the season.

But if the England boss would rather guarantee a goalscoring option on the bench in a crucial knockout game, Bent and Owen could yet feature prominently in his thoughts.

As the leading English goalscorer in the Premier League, Bent’s credentials in the penalty area are beyond question, and Bruce also feels the striker’s attitude would dovetail nicely with Capello’s demand for discipline and commitment whenever England’s players get together.

“The fact that he’s kept going after not making other squads shows the type of lad he is,” said the Sunderland boss. “I’m absolutely over the moon for him.”

Bruce has been understandably delighted with Bent’s impact following his £10m move from Tottenham, and the 25-year-old will be the focal point of Sunderland’s forward line for many years to come.

The identity of the club’s back-up strikers is rather more uncertain, however, with both David Healy and Daryl Murphy expected to leave the Stadium of Light in January.

That would create a gap for a fourth striker to support Bent, Kenwyne Jones and Fraizer Campbell, but rather than bringing in a forward from elsewhere, Bruce has hinted that South Shieldsborn Martyn Waghorn could be handed an opportunity to impress when he returns from a loan spell at Leicester in December.

“The reports on Martyn Waghorn are very good,” he said. “As they are for Jack Colback (who is on loan at Ipswich).

Waghorn is at the top end of the division, Leicester are doing very well and he scored the other day against Reading.

“The reports on him are excellent, and the experience of being down there must be doing him a world of good.”

■ Sunderland’s away game at Fulham has been put back 24 hours to Sunday, December 6 (ko 3pm) because of Fulham’s involvement in the Europa League.

Also, the game at Everton on Wednesday, January 27 will now kick off at 8pm, while the home game with Stoke has been moved to Monday, February 1 (ko 8pm), both for live television.