Jermain Defoe believes that England will return back stronger after early elimination from the World Cup. England was eliminated from the tournament after being thrashed 4-1 by Germany in Bloemfontein.

Speaking from the Tottenham Hospitality lounge, Defoe was candid about England's world cup defeat.

"Nobody wanted to come home when we did. The lads were gutted, we wanted to do well for everyone. To get knocked out and see kids in the crowd crying with the England colours on their faces washing away is horrible," The Mirror quoted Jermain Defoe, as saying.

"Of course you want to do it for yourself and your family, but it's also for the fans and for the kids especially you want to do well. You try so hard for them. Growing up I used to watch the World Cup and after each game, I'd go out on the street and try to emulate the players."

"To go to the World Cup, play and score is a dream come true. Playing for my country, for my fans, means so much to me. I know how much it means to them and the efforts they make to support us and we never want to let them down," he added.

Captain Rio Ferdinand is certain Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe will be part of England’s World Cup squad.

The 27-year-old struggled for form during the latter months of the Premier League season, but former West Ham team-mate Ferdinand is confident Fabio Capello will still select Defoe.

“It was a bit of concern that he wasn’t scoring,” the Manchester United man said.

“Capello shouldn’t have any fears about taking him though. He’s watched him quite a lot this year.

“He came to a lot of Spurs games at the end of the season – he’s seen enough of him to know that he is always capable of scoring goals.

“There’s certain players that are guaranteed a spot and I’d like to think that Jermain is one of them.”

Jermain Defoe believes Tottenham Hotspur’s FA Cup elimination will provide extra motivation to qualify for the Champions League.

Spurs suffered a shock defeat against bottom of the league Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley earlier this month.

“Going out of the FA Cup is a setback but if you ask a lot of people, they would rather finish fourth than win a cup," Defore told the Daily Star:

“We have never been in the Champions League before but it’s where we want to be. We have to be looking to win the big games from now.”

HARRY REDKNAPP has urged his Tottenham players to grab their England World Cup chance.

England boss Fabio Capello has picked four Spurs players, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Jermaine Jenas and Tom Huddlestone, for Saturday’s friendly against Brazil.

Aaron Lennon would also have been in the squad if he had been fit and Redknapp believes Tottenham could be key to England’s hopes of World Cup glory at next summer’s South Africa finals. “All of the Tottenham lads can get into the World Cup squad, of course they can,” said Redknapp. “They have been given a chance and now it’s up to them.

“It’s great for the club to have so many players in the England set-up. There might be a few injuries, but they have a great opportunity to stake a claim.”

Defoe and Crouch have been in Capello’s thoughts for some time, but call-ups for Huddlestone and Jenas came as a surprise. Huddlestone has not featured in an England squad since the friendlies against United States and Trinidad & Tobago over a year ago, while Jenas has not played for England since the 4-1 victory in Croatia last September.

The striker, 26, was handed a six-month disqualification in July and ordered to pay £2,100 after being found guilty of two counts of speeding in his £70,000 Range Rover and two offences of failing to tell police who was behind the wheel at the time.

His ban was put on hold until an appeal hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex on Friday, when a barrister argued Defoe's convictions should be thrown out.

Chastising the Tottenham Hotspur player in his absence, Judge Goldstaub said: "The defendant is not ill or unable to attend. Any normal person faced with his situation would come and see what's going on.

"The fact is he personally not here. You can speculate what an innocent man would do and what a guilty man might do. He's absented himself. He's a public figure, there's an inquiry going on into whether or not he's committed a crime and he hasn't shown his face.

"Putting oneself into his shoes, wrongfully charged, wrongfully convicted, subject to this appeal, penalised in some way and he doesn't take an interest or doesn't come and involve himself in the process."

The appeal was dismissed and Defoe's driving ban began with immediate effect.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has challenged Jermain Defoe to finish this season as top scorer in the Barclays Premier League.

Defoe will return from a three-match ban to lead the line for Spurs in their game against Sunderland on Sunday and, prior to his suspension, the 27-year-old had been in good goalscoring form, netting six times as Redknapp's men helped set the pace at the top end of the league.

"He has looked sharp, he's looked like every game he is going to score, so hopefully on Sunday he can come out and get back scoring goals," Redknapp said. "There's no reason he can't be leading goalscorer in the Premier League."

He added: "He's got as good a chance as anybody. We make lots of chances at this club so if he continues to stick them away he'll have an opportunity."

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp believes Jermain Defoe can finish the season as top scorer in the Premier League.

The England striker will lead the Spurs line against Sunderland on Saturday after returning from a three-match ban.

He had scored six times in the league prior to his suspension and Redknapp is hoping for more of the same.

He said: "He has looked sharp, he's looked like every game he is going to score, so hopefully tomorrow he can come out and get back scoring goals.

"There's no reason he can't be leading goalscorer in the Premier League. He's got as good a chance as anybody.

"We make lots of chances at this club so if he continues to stick them away he'll have an opportunity."

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp revealed his anger with Jermain Defoe after he saw red in the 2-1 win over Portsmouth.

Spurs held on for the win at Fratton Park after Ledley King put them in front with a powerful header, before Defoe doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time.

Kevin-Prince Boateng pulled one back for the home side before former Pompey striker Defoe was given his marching orders after a stamp on Aaron Mokoena, with Michael Brown also seeing red late on.

And Redknapp, who was returning to the South Coast club for the first time since his move to Spurs, was disappointed with the England forward.

"I was very disappointed with Jermain Defoe, getting sent off and reacting like he did," he said.

"I said it was a day for cool heads - don't react if you get fouled, just get on with the game.

"Don't start kicking people or over-reacting and I repeated that to him at half-time on four or five occasions and he did react and he disappointed himself and I was disappointed with that as well.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp made a triumphant return to Fratton Park but Jermain Defoe was sent off for a stamp in the Barclays Premier League 2-1 victory against 10-man Portsmouth.

After leaving Pompey nearly a year ago, Redknapp eventually took Defoe, Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjcar with him - and almost inevitably Defoe got on the scoresheet after Ledley King had opened the scoring.

The England striker getting sent off, however, was not in the script and set up a thrilling finale after Kevin-Prince Boateng had pulled a goal back - with Michael Brown following Defoe down the tunnel in injury time for a second booking.

Big Brother 7's Imogen Thomas has claimed that she split from footballer Jermain Defoe because they "wanted different things".

The glamour model, 26, said that Defoe wasn't ready for "stability" or starting a family.

"It was a mutual decision and it just wasn't meant to be. We split about a week ago but it had been rocky for a couple of weeks," she told the Daily Star.

"We just wanted different things. I wanted stability and I don't think Jermain's ready for that. I like to stay in quite a lot, watch DVDs, make dinner and chill out. I definitely wanted to settle down and have the whole marriage and kids thing. I still want to do that before I'm 30, I just need to find the right guy."

Defoe's previous lovers have included Danielle Lloyd, Chantelle Houghton and Charlotte Mears.