England Under-21 captain Micah Richards has vowed to play his way into Fabio Capello's World Cup squad.

The Manchester City right-back led the young Lions to a 1-0 victory over Portugal in their European Championship qualifier at Wembley.

However, the 21-year-old has yet to feature under the Capello regime as the Italian coach guided England through to next summer's finals in South Africa - even when the squad for the friendly against Brazil in Qatar was hit by defensive problems which instead prompted a call for Aston Villa full-back Luke Young, who declined the offer.

However, Richards remains determined to prove himself all over again.

The man who has won 11 England caps, the last of which came in November 2007, said: "The World Cup is still my dream.

"It has been hard over the last two years, but all I can do is my best.

"There have been a lot of changes at Man City, new faces coming in, but it is always nice to come away with the Under-21s and get 90 minutes under my belt."

Richards added: "I was quite disappointed when I did not get the call for England against Brazil, but that is just football.

"If Mr Capello does not think I am ready yet, I am just going to bide my time and be patient.

"When my chance comes, I will just take it, like I did two years ago.

"For a 21-year-old to play regularly at club level is hard, especially at Manchester City now, because they want a world XI.

"It is a bit disheartening when you hear they are going after the likes of [Daniel] Alves, the best right-back in the world, or Maicon.

"But football is a confidence game and you cannot let that stuff get you down.

"You just have to keep working hard."

Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce challenged all his team to go on and show they have what it takes to play for the full national side by securing qualification to the European Championships.

Tottenham youngster Danny Rose, 19, struck at the end of the first half, slotting home from a knockdown by Andy Carroll, which proved enough for victory.

England are now three points behind Group Nine leaders Greece, on whom they have a game in hand, ahead of next week's trip to Lithuania, with eventual winners and four best runners-up making it through automatically to Denmark in 2011.

Pearce sees no reason why the likes of Richards, Rose, Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs and Wolves' on-loan Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne cannot progress through to the senior squad - perhaps even in time for the World Cup next summer.

"There is no reason at all why everyone on that pitch today should not have on their minds qualification for 2011, winning the tournaments and getting senior caps," the England Under-21 coach declared.

"They have only got to look at the path achieved by [James] Milner, [Gabriel] Agbonlahor, [Joe] Hart, Tom Huddlestone, Theo Walcott, who are there at the moment.

"They are aware of that and aware that I speak with Fabio and tell him who has done well in this side."

There was a decent turnout at Wembley, with a capped attendance of just shy of 34,000 in the lower tier producing a good atmosphere.

Pearce, though, felt his team should have made more of their opportunity.

"We could have played better," the England Under-21 boss said.

"We started very brightly and finished the half quite well, but never really caught hold of the game.

"However, the resilience of the team impressed me the most.

"We have got too many players who are not playing regularly enough for their first teams and sometimes that shows in matches.

"Guys like [Chris] Smalling, [Ryan] Bertrand and [Tom] Cleverley did well, right through the team, they have all put a good shift in.

"Now we have to do the same against in Lithuania on Tuesday."

Pearce added: "The squad is developing nicely. Days like this when it has not gone so well will help us continue to generate that team spirit."