Villa defender Stephen Warnock is desperate to rid himself of the tag of England’s shortest-ever appearance maker – after hailing the club for rescuing his international career.

Warnock was a surprise inclusion in Fabio Capello’s squad for Saturday’s friendly against Brazil in Qatar after first choice left-back Ashley Cole dropped out through injury.

The 27-year-old has just a solitary cap for his 84th-minute substitute appearance in the friendly against Trinidad and Tobago in June last year.

He said: “I said when I joined that one of the reasons for coming here was you know Fabio Capello comes to a lot of the games and most of the squad are England players, so hopefully if I could catch his eye it would be worthwhile.

“I hope it lasts a bit longer than a few minutes. It’s something to build on and hopefully I’ll get the chance to do that on Saturday.

“I took six minutes and I’m quite happy with that, but given the chance to improve it I’ll be more than happy.

“I didn’t really think the chance had passed me by. You always hope that it will come around again with form and playing well.

“It’s one of those games that you want to be involved in and you always dream about playing in when you’re younger.

“Given the chance hopefully I’ll take it with both hands. I can pretty much remember every second of my debut, it’s one of those, when you’re younger you always dream about playing for England and getting a chance and when you’re younger you’d take one minute, I’m no different.”