UNDER 21 INTERNATIONAL PREVIEW
The most telling aspect of Tuesday night's game at Upton Park is that, having abandoned experimentation in friendless, coach David Platt's selection is expected to be his first choice starting X1 in preparation for next month's vital European Championship qualifiers.
The England Under 21 coach admitted he had a striking selection problem after Sven Goran Eriksson declined to name Francis Jeffers for the senior squad and he joined up with the youngsters.
Platt said: "Franny's got a great goalscoring record full stop, not just at Under 21 level, so I had a difficult selection problem for Tuesday night but I'm paid to make decisions."
However, Platt's problem was eased with the withdrawal of Bobby Zamora through injury. The former Brighton striker, now at Spurs, tweaked an abductor muscle during his run out as substitute in Tottenham's 1-0 defeat at Birmingham on Saturday.
Shola Ameobi, another contender for a starting slot, played for Newcastle on Sunday so was always likely to be on the bench at Upton Park.
Platt will start with Francis Jeffers, who has 13 goals in 13 Under 21 games and is closing in on the England record at that level, and Jermaine Defoe. The West Ham striker, strongly tipped to be the next expensive departure from the Hammers is tipping his former Upton Park teammate Glen Johnson for full England honours amidst media hype that the first of the new Chelsea signings would be in the senior squad this week.
Defoe says: "Glen is a great player and still young. I'm sure he will be pushing for the full squad soon."
Platt put the media speculation about Johnson into perspective when he said: "I always expected Glen to be in my squad, but media people decided he'd be in Sven's squad. I spoke to Sven on Wednesday and Glen wasn't mentioned. Glen is a good player but his name hasn't come up in terms of the senior squad."
But the England Under 21 coach hasn't ruled out senior recognition in the future, adding: "He hasn't played that often for the Under 21s which doesn't mean he won't go straight up to the seniors, but people talk about him in Sven's squad on the back of his move to Chelsea. He has all the attributes to be a full international but to talk about him being on the verge of Sven's squad now is not right."
It may only be a friendly but it's a big night for Matt Murray. The young Wolves keeper had a nightmare start to his Premiership career when he conceded five goals at Blackburn on the opening Saturday so Tuesday night should be a good test of character and temperament for him.
Platt has already named his side to face Croatia and knows how important a good performance is ahead of Euro qualifiers against Macedonia and Portugal next month.
The England Under 21 team
Murray, Johnson, Parnaby, Clarke, Konchesky, Pennant, Prutton, Jenas, Barry, Defoe, Jeffers.
