Milner set to realise his dream

Milner has scored nine times since he signed for Villa

Aston Villa's James Milner says playing for England against Brazil would be enacting a boyhood dream.

Milner and his Villa team-mates Stephen Warnock and Ashley Young are in the squad for Saturday's friendly.

Milner told BBC WM: "When you're growing up and you're pretending to play for your country, Brazil's probably the team you play against.

"It's an important game, it's a warm-up game, and hopefully if we play them again it'll be in the World Cup final."

Milner, who has been retained in Fabio Capello's England squad with the World Cup little more than six months away, said he was delighted with the faith shown in him by the England boss.

I think it goes down as the shortest career in England history

Stephen Warnock on his eight minutes in an England shirt

"It's obviously nice to be in the England squad again. It's a good fixture in the preparations for the World Cup," Milner said.

"You want to play against top teams and Brazil are definitely up there. It'll be a tough game and a good chance for the manager to try things and see where we're at going into a major tournament."

Milner added: "We've got a lot of great English talent here at Aston Villa. The England manager does his research, he watches a lot of games and when there's a lot of English players he's going to watch [us].

For his part, Warnock says the prospect of playing his club football alongside other young England hopefuls was one of the main attractions of signing for Villa in the summer.

Warnock said: "[The call-up] has come as a bit of a surprise but a welcome one.

"I said when I joined the club that the bulk of the team was English and that the [England] manager came here to a lot of games to watch those players, and hopefully if I could catch his eye you never know what could happen. Luckily I've done that."

Warnock has settled quickly into his new surroundings at Aston Villa

Warnock made his England debut in the friendly against Trinidad and Tobago in June 2008, but has so far been unable to add to the eight minutes of international football he managed on that occasion.

Warnock added: "It's my boyhood dream. Everyone wants to play for their country. I think it goes down as the shortest career in England history, but if I could improve that this weekend I'd be even happier."

"There's a couple of other players who have been called into the squad as well who haven't been in for a while. If [Fabio Capello] is still looking for options, hopefully I can put something in his mind to keep me in there," Warnock said.

But both players are aware that they must make the most of their involvement in the England set-up, and not just on the field.

Milner said: "Obviously you're representing your country on the field and off the field, and in training as well. That's a big part of it.

"It's no different to what you should be doing every day at Aston Villa - you go out there and play as well as you can and work as hard as you can."