The Hammers hitman has recently returned to action after two months on the sidelines with a knee injury.

His absence forced him to miss England's last match against Brazil in Doha - but he is hoping he will be recalled by Capello for the friendly with Egypt next month.

"England and the World Cup is my main dream and I would love to get back into the squad," Cole to the Evening Standard. "I know Mr Capello has been speaking regularly with the medical staff here to assess how things are going and that is a good sign because he cares about my fitness.

"Hopefully, by the time the next squad is announced, I will be back to where I want to be and scoring goals. If I am doing that hopefully I will stay in his thoughts."

While sidelined, Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola has invested heavily in striking reinforcements with Benni McCarthy, Mido and Ilan all being brought in late last month.

But Cole is more than happy with having competition for his place.

"As a striker you need to be kept on your toes so that you can produce the goods regularly," he said. "Now we have some good strikers, all competing with me for a place in the team. That can only be good for me and the club.

"They are all good technical players, good with the ball. Their final pass is precise and their hold-up play is excellent. That's all you want in a striking partner. Hopefully the manager will find a way to keep us all happy.

"I thought I did OK earlier in the season but sometimes I did feel I was too isolated up front.

"Now I have much more support. We have the foundation in place now but we need to start scoring the goals which will help us climb away from the danger area.

"I'm feeling much fitter now. I'm still searching for 100 per cent sharpness but that will come. I want to be firing on all cylinders before long because I still have those targets to reach."