Hodgson full of praise for Zamora

(GETTY IMAGES)

Roy Hodgson is sure that Bobby Zamora will be in contention for a place in England's World Cup squad after the striker put in yet another impressive performance to fire Fulham into the last four of the Europa League.

The former Spurs striker scored his 19th of the season just 21 seconds into last night's quarter-final second leg to seal a 3-1 aggregate win over Wolfsburg.

Despite playing a key role in Fulham's push for success on the domestic front and in Europe, Zamora has been unable to break into Fabio Capello's squad.

It is thought that the Italian would prefer to take Peter Crouch or Emile Heskey to South Africa, but there are calls for Zamora to at least be given a chance to prove his worth on the international stage.

Much of the pre-match talk before last night's game was about Wolfsburg's highly rated striker Edin Dzeko but Zamora's performance put the Chelsea and Manchester City target in the shade.

Hodgson saluted his top scorer following the victory and admitted that Zamora is doing the best he can to secure a surprise place in Capello's 23.

Hodgson said: "I read that the price for Edin Dzeko was 40million euros (£35million), so we might have to up our price for Bobby Zamora after tonight's performance. That said, we don't want to sell him.

"Bobby Zamora is a very good player. This year, by adding goals to his excellent build-up play, he's come to everyone's attention and he can do no more than continue to play well.

"Then, I'm sure when Fabio Capello is looking at the players available to take to the World Cup, he will make his assessment. I know Fabio is aware of Bobby as a player, but Bobby can't do any more himself."

Fulham have accounted for Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus and Basle on their way to the last four, where they will meet Hamburg later this month.

Should they beat the German side, they will face either Atletico Madrid or Liverpool, and Hodgson knows his side will have to battle hard to reach the final in May, which will also take place in Hamburg.

"We're very proud to be in a semi-final as Fulham and, most importantly of all, we are proud for Fulham, our owner and our supporters," said the 62-year-old.

"We'll face a very arduous task if we want to get to the final but the main thing is we're in the semi-final and we have that chance."