After being unfairly (according to us) left out of the squad last time, Marvin Sordell has been named in Stuart Pearce's 28 man squad for the England U21 matches against Romania and Australia, along with fellow Trotter Craig Dawson. while Benik Afobe has been dropped. I made no secret of my feelings on Sordell's exclusion the last time Pearce named a squad, and luckily I don't need to repeat myself.
These games are the last chance for the players to prove their worth to Pearce before the European Under 21 Championship, which will be held in Israel this summer. The U21s are currently on a 7 game winning streak, extended most recently by a 4-0 win over the Sweden U21s in early February, a match in which Dawson played the full 90 minutes. Ahead of that match, the defender said,
We've got to start 2013 well and it begins tonight against Sweden. Everybody will want to play well, impress and book their place on the plane in June. In every game we all want to do our best and be involved in the next one, but at the back of everyone's mind now is that Israel is approaching, so everyone will want go to be in that squad for the Finals.
I think we have a great togetherness, that's through the team and the staff. It's such a close-knit unit. Every game we've played there's always been a few new additions and they have all been welcomed into the side well and settled in nicely.
Everybody enjoys playing for England and being a part of this squad, and that where the success has come from.
Best of luck to Sordell, Dawson, and their U21 teammates!
Full Squad:
Goalkeepers
Ben Amos (Manchester United); Jack Butland (Birmingham City); Declan Rudd (Preston North End (on loan from Norwich City)); Jason Steele (Middlesbrough)
Defenders
Ryan Bennett (Norwich City); Steven Caulker (Tottenham Hotspur); Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton); Craig Dawson (Bolton (on loan from West Brom)); Tom Lees (Leeds United); Jack Robinson (Wolverhampton Wanderers (on loan from Liverpool)); Danny Rose (Sunderland (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)); Luke Shaw (Southampton); Adam Smith (Millwall (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)); Andre Wisdom (Liverpool)
Midfielders
Tom Carroll (Tottenham Hotspur); Nat Chalobah (Watford (on loan from Chelsea)); Jordan Henderson (Liverpool); Henri Lansbury (Nottingham Forest); Jason Lowe (Blackburn Rovers); Josh McEachran (Middlesbrough (on loan from Chelsea)); Jonjo Shelvey (Liverpool); Raheem Sterling (Liverpool); Andros Townsend (Queens Park Rangers (on loan from Tottenham))
Forwards
Nathan Delfouneso (Blackpool (on loan from Aston Villa)); Tom Ince (Blackpool); Marvin Sordell (Bolton Wanderers); Connor Wickham (Sheffield Wednesday (on loan from Sunderland)); Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace (on loan from Manchester United))