Gareth Southgate won his 50th cap for his country against Portugal this afternoon and will be around for a while longer yet. The former Crystal Palace and Aston Villa defender has been a fixture in the England camp for the last seven years and he has today revealed that retirement from international football is simply not on his agenda.

"I will never retire from international football," he told us from the sanctuary of the team hotel ahead of the big game.

"I'm playing well enough to be here on merit and I still have a great ambition to be part of the team which goes to Portugal because I am convinced we will get there. And by the time that the next World Cup comes around, I'll be 35/36 which is the same age that Martin [Keown] and Teddy [Sheringham] were for this one.

"There have and always will be outstanding players who have been left out of big tournaments. That shows you how much of a privilege it is to be part of any England squad. It's easy to be blasé about it but there are only twenty players from the whole country that are picked by the England manager. That is a very select group and it's a privilege to be here."

Looking back on an international career which now spans seven years, it's ironic that Gareth should win his 50th cap against the same team he played on his England debut.

"I won my first cap against Portugal strangely enough! I'd been in the squad a couple of times under Terry [Venables] and then, in December 1995 I came on as a substitute in a game against Portugal to make my debut," he recalls.

It was almost a dream start for the young pretender who remembers the game well: "I hit the bar with a header from a corner after about five minutes and really enjoyed the whole experience. It was fantastic to achieve something you've aimed for your whole life. Gareth's first ever call up for England came at a time of change both on and off the pitch.

"I had just joined Villa that summer and had only been there for a month or so, moving back to centre half. Then, one day after training, Brian Little called me aside and congratulated me, telling me that I'd been called up.

"It didn't come completely out of the blue because there had been talk of me possible getting a call-up the previous month but there is always that element of surprise with your first ever call up.

"There's no question that moving to centre half has helped my career tremendously. I knew that Terry had had a look at me when I was at Palace and he called up Richard Shaw at the time who was playing centre half.

"But then, when I moved to the back and coped with that, it certainly gave Terry more options with me. He was looking for players to be flexible and I fitted the bill.

"Going into Euro '96 I only had four caps but went on to play in every one of our games in that tournament. In some ways it's a shame that it came so early on in my England career because it's such a tremendous experience to play in a tournament in your own country.

"But I certainly did appreciate how big it was at the time. I was 25 and old enough to understand what was going on.

"It was a brilliant tournament. Obviously everyone remembers how it ended for me and for a couple of years that clouded everything I did.

"Unfortunately that will always be an incident that will be attached to my name, and certainly for about seven months or so afterwards I did feel very nervous playing for England. But by the end of the following season, when we played away in Poland and I played well, followed by Le Tournoi in which I also did well, that signalled the end of me coming out of that period.

 "Since then I feel I've been very consistent for England."

Meeting up with England has always been something Gareth has enjoyed.

"The build up to England games is a lot higher profile than anything else I've experienced in football," he explains.

"I enjoy that because as a player you want to be involved in the high profile games - the bigger the game, the better the performance if you're a top player. I revel in playing in the big occasions.

"But you have to be able to deal with all those things that go on around you when you're with England and still be able to concentrate on your football. You can't get carried away - ultimately it's the same as going down to your park on a Sunday; there are 22 players and two sets of goalposts. You have to make sure that you don't lose sight of that."

And how does he feel about the big 50?

"The fact that I will have fifty caps puts me in quite some company if I think of the players that have reached that landmark that I have played with. We're talking about people like Alan Shearer, Tony Adams, David Seaman and Stuart Pearce - they are all going to be legends forever.

"It's great to be in that company and to have played with players of that calibre."

Is there anyone that he has looked up to in his England career?

"I have always got on very well with Stuart Pearce," he reveals. "A lot of people that don't know him might not think that he's the approachable person that he is. We have always had great respect for one another and he was also a great help after Euro'96."

Gareth on Terry Venables

"I enjoyed playing under Terry immensely. You're always grateful to a manager who gives you your first opportunity, be it at club or international level - Terry did that.

"My one regret would be that I didn't have the chance to work with him for longer.

"Having Don Howe with us that summer [1996] was also a great experience for any defender."

"I would say the team I played in during Euro '96 was probably the best side that I have played in up to now. It was a very experienced team with so many players hitting their peak at the same time.

Gareth on Glenn Hoddle

"I still had a bit of a hangover from Euro'96 when Glenn first came in as manager but he kept faith with me during that period and helped me a lot.

"Ultimately he picked me more than any England manager because he wanted defenders who were comfortable on the ball. In many respects I wish I had been a little bit more confident of my own ability.

"We had some big occasions under Glenn and that night against Italy in Rome was a big night for English football."

Gareth on Kevin Keegan

"Kevin has had his critics but I enjoyed working with him tremendously. He was a great character.

"Similar to Sven in a way, he took over at a time when it looked as though we weren't going to qualify for the European Championships, but we did.

"I can understand why players at Newcastle, Fulham and Manchester City say that he is the manager they love to play for. He is a players' manager.

"It will be nice to meet up with him again in the Premier League this season."

Gareth on Sven

"It's a very different experience for England as Sven is the first ever foreign manager, and it's also a new experience for me personally as I've never worked under foreign coach at club level either.

"I think his style of management is becoming more commonplace in the England game. So, as we started to see the way that things were being done at places like Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, it was not such a great shock that the same should happen with England.

"It is a different style of management and a calmer approach.

"Obviously I'm disappointed not to have played as many games as I would have liked but I also understand the desire to bring younger players through. Throughout my time with England there has been great competition for the places in the centre of defence.

"I was in pole position from about 1996 to 1999 and now I've got a period when I haven't been first choice. But I still feel it's important to play your part in the squad.

"That was the approach I took at the World Cup this summer. There's no point in sulking around. When you are playing you want the other players to be behind you and helping you in training.

"Now I'm one of the senior players here and I think you can help the youngsters through things. I think it's important to take time to talk to different people, help relax them and settle them in."

Gareth was talking to Daniel Freedman