Downing given chance to stake World Cup claim
Wednesday, 22, Feb 2006 05:25
Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing has been handed the chance to stake his claim for a place in Sven-Goran Eriksson's World Cup 22 after being recalled to the England under-21 squad.
The highly rated 21-year-old, touted last season as a possible solution to England's left-side dilemma, has missed most of the season so far due to a knee ligament injury.
However, he has returned to the Middlesbrough first-team in recent weeks and a number of impressive recent performances in Boro's wins over Chelsea and Stuttgart have prompted England under-21 coach Peter Taylor to recall the skilful winger to the squad to take on Norway on February 28th.
Downing is one of three experienced faces to be recalled by Taylor, with Chelsea full back Glen Johnson and Blackburn midfielder David Bentley also in line to play against Norway.
Taylor is delighted to welcome back the experienced trio, especially as a number of his star performers in recent years, including Carlton Cole, Michael Dawson and Dean Ashton, are now too old to play at under-21 level.
"Stewart has been very unlucky with injury but looks to have regained his form," the England under-21 coach said.
"Glen’s been playing more first-team football for Chelsea recently while David Bentley is now playing every week for Blackburn and scoring. It gives players a chance to play under-21 football when they are playing regularly for their clubs."
In addition to the experienced Premiership trio, Taylor is likely to hand Reading's in-form striker Leroy Lita a chance to impress on home soil, with the game being played at the Madejksi stadium.
Lita has hit 14 goals for the runaway Championship leaders since moving to the Madejski in a £1 million summer switch from Bristol City and is delighted to get another chance to impress on the international stage after making a scoring debut against Holland last year.
"Making my under-21s debut was a dream come true and I’d love to get another chance at the Madejski," Lita said.
"It’s my home ground, so it’ll be even more special to me. The fans are great and it will be a very good atmosphere."
<b> Full England under-21 squad to face Norway: </b>
Lee Camp (Derby), Scott Carson (Liverpool); Curtis Davies (West Brom), Anton Ferdinand (West Brom), Justin Hoyte (Sunderland), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Glen Johnson (Chelsea), Liam Ridgewell (Aston Villa), Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough), Peter Whittingham (Aston Villa); David Bentley (Blackburn), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), James Milner (Aston Villa), Nigel Reo-Coker (West Ham), Wayne Routledge (Portsmouth), Tom Soares (Crystal Palace), John Welsh (Hull); Cameron Jerome (Cardiff), Leroy Lita (Portsmouth), Izale McLeod (MK Dons), Luke Moore (Aston Villa), David Nugent (Preston)