Bentley & Young get England call
Bentley and Young have both been impressive so far this season
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Friday, 31, Aug 2007 01:38
David Bentley and Ashley Young have both earned call-ups to the senior England squad for the 2008 European Championship qualifying double-header next month.
It is the first time Aston Villa forward Young has earned recognition at senior level; while Bentley, who has been in impressive form for Blackburn Rovers so far this season, gets only his second senior call-up.
The 23-year-old right winger was left out of Steve McClaren's last squad for the friendly against Germany after he snubbed the chance to join the England youth squad for the European Under-21 Championships over the summer, citing "fatigue".
But he has earned a recall, in part because David Beckham has been ruled out with a knee strain he sustained earlier this week.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is included, despite missing the Reds' last two matches with a hairline fracture of his toe, and team-mate Peter Crouch is also named in the squad even though he has struggled to earn a place in his club's first-team squad of late.
Manchester United have four representatives in the squad, with defensive pair Wes Brown and Rio Ferdinand included along with midfielders Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves.
Chelsea have more players than any other club in the squad with five – captain John Terry, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
And Portsmouth's veteran central defender Sol Campbell also keeps his place despite withdrawing from the Germany friendly through injury, with team-mate David James named alongside Tottenham's Paul Robinson and Aston Villa stopper Scott Carson.
Newcastle United strikers Michael Owen and Alan Smith, who started the last match up front, retain their places.
Full 26-man England squad:
Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur)
David James (Portsmouth)
Scott Carson (Aston Villa, on loan)
Micah Richards (Manchester City)
Wes Brown (Manchester United)
Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United)
John Terry (Chelsea)
Ashley Cole (Chelsea)
Sol Campbell (Portsmouth)
Phil Neville (Everton)
Nicky Shorey (Reading)
David Bentley (Blackburn Rovers)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Joe Cole (Chelsea)
Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea)
Michael Carrick (Manchester United)
Gareth Barry (Aston Villa)
Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough)
Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United)
Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Alan Smith (Newcastle United)
Michael Owen (Newcastle United)
Peter Crouch (Liverpool)
Andrew Johnson (Everton)
Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur)