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SUNDERLAND, England: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini admits talented young winger Adam Johnson may not make England's World Cup squad despite his superb start to life at Eastlands.
Johnson came off the bench against Sunderland on Sunday to frustrate his home-town club with a brilliant stoppage-time equaliser that rescued a 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light.
The 22-year-old has impressed on every appearance for City since his seven million pounds transfer from Championship club Middlesbrough in January and, with England lacking a natural left-winger, his name has been mentioned for Fabio Capello's World Cup squad.
However, England have only two more friendlies before the finals in South Africa and Mancini believes Johnson may have to wait for Euro 2012 to make his mark at a major international tournament.
"Adam is a good player, but is a young player," Mancini said. "I think that in the future, he will be a good player for the national team, but now I don't know.
"I think the England national team has a good manager and he knows very well Adam Johnson and he will decide.
"He scored a fantastic goal. I am happy for him and for us, but before that, we had five or six chances easily to score a goal. That's football."
It was inevitable that Johnson would break Sunderland hearts again just three months after opting to join City rather than the club he supported as a boy.
Black Cats manager Steve Bruce said: "It's ironic. It would be him, a Sunderland fan. I can see the headlines.
"We were on his case for months, but unfortunately in the end, he chose Manchester City, which was obviously disappointing for us. But there you have it."
City were poor before the break and trailed to Kenwyne Jones's ninth minute header, but they ended up just two points behind fourth-placed Tottenham in the race for a Champions League spot thanks to a dominant second half display.
Mancini said: "There is no change. We have one game in hand, we must play against Tottenham at home, we must play against Aston Villa.
"We have 10 games to play and it will all depend on us. But I think if we want to reach fourth spot, we must win these games."
Bruce's disappointment at seeing two points snatched from his grasp was compounded by the loss of Jones at half-time with a groin injury which could sideline him for a month.
"The result was possibly a fair result, if I am being honest, after the second half, but that's the story of it the season," Bruce said.
"We were just getting up a head of steam and getting a settled team and another one of our big players looks as if he is going to be out for at least a month." - AFP/fa
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