Jermain Defoe will START today’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Lithuiania at Wembley Stadium.
Last capped in November 2013, Defoe spearheads Gareth Southgate’s attack as Adam Lallana, Dele Alli and Raheem Sterling are tasked with supplying the Sunderland striker.
A starting berth marks the culmination of years of hard work, determination and, of course, goals, with Defoe refusing to give up on one day returning to the international fold.
In the end, 14 Premier League goals this season proved impossible to ignore, as Southgate handed the 34-year-old with that coveted call-up to seal a remarkable comeback.
Defoe will earn cap number 56 today and he’ll be hoping to add to his tally of 19 international goals, with his last strikes – a brace against San Marino – coming back in March 2013.
Few moments will be better than England hat-tricks and that winner at the 2010 World Cup, but today could top them all with Jermain’s best mate, Bradley Lowery, leading out the Three Lions at Wembley.
It was simply meant to be.
England: Hart, Walker, Stones, Keane, Bertrand, Dier, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Sterling, Alli, Defoe.
Substitutes: Clyne, Forster, Shaw, Gibson, Livermore, Ward-Prowse, Barkley, Rashford, Lingard, Redmond, Heaton
