Michael Dawson admits his first taste of a World Cup finals has given him the hunger to be involved in future tournaments as an England regular.
Dawson was called into the squad for South Africa after Rio Ferdinand's withdrawal through injury.
He did not taste any action in England's four games with Ledley King, Jamie Carragher and Matthew Upson partnering John Terry.
But Dawson regards his involvement as part of his development and the central defender believes playing Champions League football for Tottenham this season can only help his claims in the future.
Dawson told TheFA.com: "The World Cup was a great experience for me.
"I trained with the lads for two weeks over in Austria at the training camp and it was my dream to go to the World Cup although obviously not in the circumstances that it came about.
"It was devastating for Rio and, of course, the nation in losing the England captain. But for me it was an opportunity and a fantastic experience.
"Being in and around the lads was fantastic, and it makes me hungry to want to get into the team and then be part of a big tournament and play in it.
"It was great to be there with the lads, you become a lot more comfortable with them when you see them on such a regular basis. It was great to be training with them all the team."
Dawson, who made his England debut against Hungary at Wembley last month, added: "Playing in the Champions League will only help me as regards England.
"We go to the San Siro in the coming months, playing against Inter Milan, [in addition to playing] FC Twente and Werder Bremen. They're all top teams.
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"It's only going to help me from a personal point of view to step up to the international level and, from a club perspective, it's where we've wanted to be for a long time."
Dawson will be competing alongside Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott for a place in the line-up for tonight's opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria at Wembley.
"It's a team game and you're all fighting to be in that team. We all want the same thing," Dawson added.
"But when you're training you get on both on and off the pitch so we know that whoever plays tonight, we'll back them and hopefully they'll do well."
