Wednesday 25 March 2015 15:50, UK
Joe Hart says he never wants to stop playing for England as he approaches a landmark appearance.
The Manchester City goalkeeper will reach 50 caps if he plays in Friday's European Qualifier against Lithuania and again in next week's friendly in Italy.
Only five keepers have racked up that amount, and none of them was as young as Hart when they did so, but the 27-year-old hopes a half-century is just the start of his achievements.
"I could potentially get 50 caps," he said. "I am knocking on those kind of tallies at the moment which is exciting.
"I am honoured to play every single game I have done for England and for it to be 48 so far is fantastic but I just want to keep playing.
"I'm a soldier, I'm a player. I just want to play as much as I can for my team and for my country and that's all I can put my focus on ."
"I don't ever see any end. I don't want there to be an end. You can't finish one game and think: 'that is me sorted', I want to keep going, I keep preparing for games and hopefully I keep playing in them.
"I have got a lot of hard work to do to keep my place and I am willing to do that. I'm a soldier, I'm a player. I just want to play as much as I can for my team and for my country and that's all I can put my focus on right now."
Hart was labelled "a phenomenon" by none other than Lionel Messi following his Champions League heroics for Manchester City against Barcelona earlier this month.
Those kind of plaudits seemed a long way off when he lost his City place to Costel Pantilimon in the first half of last season.
He said: "It was a situation for me where football didn't go the way I wanted it. I was out of the team but I still had a good relationship with the manager, worked hard on what I felt I needed to work hard on and came back into the team.
"My aim when I came back into the team was to fit back in. I didn't want to come back and make 50 saves and make an arrival. I just wanted to get back into the flow of playing games consistently and well."
As for that Messi endorsement, Hart said: "He is a fantastic player and for him to comment on me is great but I'm not getting carried away."
