McClaren seemed to make a point of not picking Beckham as a sign of intent at the begining of his career as englandmanager but now it appears that his recent dislays for Real Madrid has forced his hand.
the ex-captain strongly believed he would never add to his 94 caps for England and will be delighted with this news.
Beckham is the most notable inclusion with Lennon added to the squad even though he has sustained aslight injury in yesterday's B team game against Albania.
Players missing through injury include Ashley Cole, Ben Foster, Owen Hargreaves and Mirah Richards with Wayne Rooney rested.
Nungent seems to be a casualty of Joe Cole being fit again. Two new faces for the squad include David Bentley and Nicky Shorey.
England squad for the friendly against Brazil at Wembley on June 1 and the Euro 2008 qualifier away to Estonia on June 6:
Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), Carson (Liverpool), Green (West Ham United), P Neville (Everton), R Ferdinand (Manchester United), Terry (Chelsea), Bridge (Chelsea), Brown (Manchester United), Carragher (Liverpool), Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur), King (Tottenham Hotspur), Shorey (Reading), Beckham (Real Madrid), Gerrard (Liverpool), Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur), J Cole (Chelsea), Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Bentley (Blackburn Rovers), Carrick (Manchester United), Lampard (Chelsea), Downing (Middlesbrough), Dyer (Newcastle United), Crouch (Liverpool), Owen (Newcastle United), Smith (Manchester United), Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur). |
