Villa winger James Milner’s chances of gatecrashing the World Cup have been boosted by a glowing endorsement from England coach Fabio Capello.

The wide man was handed his first England start in Doha on Saturday as a largely second-string side slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Brazil.

Club record signing Milner, 23, was one of the few players to emerge with any credit, which was no mean feat up against one of the world’s best right-backs in Inter Milan’s Maicon.

And the player appears to be edging ever closer to earning a place in the squad for next summer’s finals in South Africa after Capello dished out some rare words of praise.

The national team boss said: “James Milner is improving. Maicon is one of the best right-backs in the world. He is very fast. He is a good defender and when he goes forward he is really dangerous.

“But Milner played well. He is a good player too.”

Nilmar scored the game’s only goal early in the second half but it could easily have been more for the five-time world champions, who also missed a penalty.

Milner, a £12million arrival from Newcastle last summer, admits England still have much to learn if they are to stand any chance of World Cup glory.

He said: “We are obviously disappointed,” said Milner. “We knew it was going to be a tough game, especially with the heat. It’s a learning curve.

“We can play better than that but you want to play against the top teams. It is important you gain these experiences, learn from these games and play different sorts of teams going into the World Cup.”

But Milner insisted he did not see a significant gap between the sides – despite Wayne Rooney and ex-Villa skipper Gareth Barry being the only regulars who started.

He said: “I think we had chances as well.”

Fellow Villa winger Ashley Young came on as a substitute for Milner three minutes from the end, but defender Stephen Warnock failed to make it off the bench.