Terry gets a chance to impress Eriksson

13 April 2012

John Terry will be London's only representative in the England starting line-up for tonight's Under-21 clash with Spain at Birmingham.

Chelsea defender Terry will be partnered by Aston Villa's Gareth Barry in the centre of defence after the Villa man was surprisingly left out of Sven-Goran Eriksson's senior squad.

Manchester United midfielder Mark Wilson will earn his first England Under-21 cap at St Andrews. Wilson will play in a central role alongside skipper David Dunn, of Blackburn.

Scunthorpe-born Wilson has not figured in the first team at Old Trafford this season but during the 1999-2000 campaign he made three Champions League and three Premiership appearances.

Wilson, the subject of a recent inquiry from Ipswich, also figured in the World Club Championship match with South Melbourne in Rio.

Leeds striker Alan Smith, who was in the full squad for the international in Italy in November, will be the lone striker, with support from the flanks coming from Luke Chadwick and Malcolm Christie.

Smith, who scored twice for Leeds in last week's 4-1 Champions League win at Anderlecht, is suspended for the next three Under-21 European Championship games, the first of which is against Finland at Barnsley on 23 March.

Many of Wilkinson's 24-strong party - indeed, several of the younger players who have forced their way into the senior squad this time around - have come through the Football Association system set up to identify the most promising players at the earliest age.

Wilkinson said: "What we're finding now is that this group and some of those who have been promoted have been in the system since they were 16. We're getting better at identifying them earlier and I think as a result of that, they're getting more experience internationally.

"The group is getting smaller and more concentrated, and a lot of the boys we first get at 16 are going on to play Under-21 and senior international football. That's got to be our aim.

"We got Paul Robinson, Michael Ball, Matthew Upson, Wes Brown, Jonathan Woodgate, David Dunn and Alan Smith into the system at Under-18 level three years ago, and they're still there. It means we're getting it right."

The Under-21 side have lost Emile Heskey, Danny Mills, Jamie Carragher, Frank Lampard and Carl Cort because they are now too old, while the involvement of Michael Owen, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole and Michael Carrick in the senior squad has meant further change for Wilkinson.

But the latest generation is full of promise, with Wilson, Tottenham's Alton Thelwell, Derby defender Chris Riggott and Newcastle striker Shola Ameobi winning call-ups.

England: Robinson (Leeds), Griffin (Newcastle), Terry (Chelsea), Barry (Aston Villa), Bridge (Southampton), Chadwick (Man Utd), Wilson (Man Utd), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Dunn (Black-burn, capt), Christie (Derby), Smith (Leeds).

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