The in-form Blues centre-half suffered a missed opportunity to impress Fabio Capello when he was confined to the substitutes’ bench for the friendly win over Egypt at Wembley this month.
But Joleon refuses to be disillusioned at staying on the sidelines as Shaun Wright-Phillips and Peter Crouch stepped up to strengthen their credentials for a World Cup place in June.
He admitted: “No-one enjoys being on the bench, whether for your country or your club. If you do, then you deserve to be there. I was disappointed, but I didn’t go there expecting to play.
“I know I’ve got to progress and improve at club level then hopefully when an opportunity comes, I can do a job. But I’m pleased with the way things are going since I came back.
“This is a massive opportunity for us at City and for me as an international - hopefully we can continue our form, get fourth place, and I can go off to South Africa with the England squad.”
Lescott has no firm idea as to where he stands in coach Capello’s pecking order behind current first choices Rio Ferdinand and John Terry as he mulls over his summer selection.
But he said: “He obviously thinks I’m in the top 24 players in the country, so you’ve got to be pleased to a certain extent but again, if you’re there, you want to be playing. I’m no different to any other player in that respect.
“Club form is how to convince him, definitely. You get picked at international level on your club form, so that’s going to be a massive part of the run-in. If we can progress and get to the Champions League, then I’m sure that can only help me.”
