Ex-Villa ace Cahill set to answer England call

Gary Cahill looks set to answer England's call to arms and solve the Three Lions' defensive crisis.

The former Villa ace is fifth choice but made his international debut as a substitute after Michael Dawson was stretchered off in last night's 4-0 win over Bulgaria at Wembley.

The Bolton defender is now primed to make his full bow in a makeshift defence for Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier in Switzerland.

England are already without injured captain Rio Ferdinand and John Terry.

And now Dawson looks likely to be out of the trip to Basel after serious-looking knee and ankle injuries in the second half.

Cahill came through the Villa Park ranks to make 31 appearances before a £5m move to Bolton in 2008.

He is likely to be paired with Phil Jagielka after hat-trick hero Jermain Defoe confirmed his Tottenham team-mate Dawson is struggling.

"He's on crutches at the minute," said Defoe.

"Hopefully it's not his knee. Maybe it's his ankle. It looked like he was in a lot of pain. I just hope he's all right."

England boss Fabio Capello was also sweating on the 26-year-old, who will have a scan today to assess the damage.

He said: "I have to wait to find out about Dawson. I am not a doctor. We have to wait for the tests, but no-one else had problems, only Dawson."

But Capello's mood was lifted after the rout which helped ease the pain of the summer's disastrous World Cup campaign and shambolic exit to Germany.

Defoe's treble and Adam Johnson's first England goal handed the hosts a comfortable win which also saw the return to form of Wayne Rooney, who had a hand in all four goals.

"I played Rooney in a position different than usual. He did very well. I spoke with him before the game," said Capello.

"He had to stay just in front of the two central midfielders and from this position to go forward and to be free. The quality of Rooney was really high."

Capello also hailed the finishing of Defoe, who scored England's first hat-trick at the new Wembley.

He said: "Defoe is always very important for us. He can shoot with his left foot and his right and his performance was really, really good and his movement without the ball was fantastic."

But, despite the scoreline, former Birmingham loanee Joe Hart had to excel on several occasions.

Capello added: "Hart is playing very, very well. He made two fantastic saves. The most important thing was to win."

Hart, describing his save from Martin Petrov, said: "I try to stand big.

"I've stolen it (the technique) from Kasper Schmeichel, who I worked with for a bit, and it's working for me. Luckily the ball hit me.

"I'm feeling good at the moment, trying to keep the momentum rolling, but there's so much I've got to improve on."