"England can take a lot from their performance against Portugal on Wednesday night. The lads performed with a great deal of poise to claim a draw, and they could so easily have won as well, against a team who will be the third favourites at Euro 2004 this summer.

"Portugal looked very sharp and are packed with great players, but England matched them throughout the game. The Portuguese appear to be a very fluid side, with the wonderful Rui Costa controlling play in the middle of the field and feeding the talents of Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo on the wings.

"It is often difficult to learn much from friendlies, but clearly the most positive development for England on the night was Ledley King’s emergence. This didn’t surprise me at all, as I played alongside Ledley with the Under-21s and always knew he was an excellent player.

"There is now a lot of competition for the centre-back places in the England squad. It is pretty certain Sol Campbell will start, so the race to partner him is on between John Terry, Jonathan Woodgate, Gareth Southgate, Ledley King and Matthew Upson.

"I would guess Sven now knows the vast majority of his squad for Euro 2004, and there are probably only a couple of places still up for grabs. There are always one or two players who come up late on the rails before major tournaments. Hopefully, this year, it can be me.

"I haven’t given up on making it in to the squad for Portugal. The fact that I’m playing on the left side of midfield for Birmingham, where of course, England have had problems in recent years, should help my cause.

"I believe I can do a job there, so if I can have a good run from now until the end of the season, there is an outside chance I will make it.

"I can reveal I am on the verge of returning from my injury lay-off. I should be back in training on Friday morning, and have an outside chance of being involved in the derby against Aston Villa on Sunday. With the chase for England places and Birmingham City looking good in both the Premiership and The FA Cup, it promises to be an exciting end to the season."