DAVID BENTLEY, Blackburn Rovers’ young winger, is to rival David Beckham for a place in the England team after forcing his way into the senior squad with his man-of-the-match performance in the B international against Albania on Friday night.

Bentley’s acclaimed contribution to the 3-1 win at Turf Moor earned him the last place in Steve McClaren’s 26-man squad for the friendly against Brazil on Friday and the crucial European Championship qualifier away to Estonia the following Wednesday.

McClaren revealed that he included the 22-year-old Arsenal product at the 11th hour, in the light of the knee injury that has left Aaron Lennon doubtful for both games. The pace, penetration and crossing ability Bentley showed against the Albanians is likely to see him win his first cap, probably from the substitutes’ bench, against Brazil.

In the long term, he has thrust himself into contention, along with Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips, for the right-wing spot Beckham is poised to reclaim. Injuries and suspensions have deprived McClaren of a full team for the match in Tallin that will not make, but could certainly break him as England’s head coach.

Those unavailable include Wayne Rooney, Gary Neville, Owen Hargreaves, Ashley Cole, Micah Richards, Andy Johnson and Jonathan Woodgate, and even in their absence there is no place for Preston’s David Nugent, who scored on his debut against Andorra, or Darren Bent.

The loss of Hargreaves, England’s current player of the year, was “a particularly big blow”, the coach said. Nugent and Bent miss out because Owen is fit to return for the first time since the World Cup, and McClaren prefers Manchester United’s Alan Smith, who, like Bentley, impressed against the Albanians. Having Beckham, Owen, Joe Cole and Smith available for the first time since he took over from Sven-Göran Eriksson last summer was like “finding four new players”, and McClaren was looking for this injection of new blood to transform the team. Booed and derided by their own supporters in each of their past two games, against Israel and Andorra, McClaren admitted that it was time to atone.

“The criticism we had there made me more determined to get things right,” he said. “I know we have to produce a team for the fans to be proud of. I’ve had meetings with the players, who were all very upset and accepted that we had to make the public proud again. Sometimes you have to go through adversity and break down before you can break through. I hope that what we went through then was a watershed and that we can start pulling together and get results.”

The common characteristics of the four players he had brought back could be key, he felt. “Michael Owen has been out of the game for a year, he looks fit and strong and has got his enthusiasm back. There is a brightness about him in training, and you can see that he’s hungry to play.

“Alan Smith is a winner, and he brings a certain attitude and mental toughness. I remember him upsetting Roma’s back four the night United put seven past them. I spoke to Alex [Sir Alex Ferguson] about it, and he felt Alan was the platform for United winning that game.”

McClaren refused to be drawn on the vexed issue of who would make way for Beckham, and denied that Frank Lampard had been dropped against Andorra and could therefore miss out again. “Frank has been showing good form for Chelsea, and was left out last time because he had a hand injury,” he said.

In the continuing absence of Gary Neville, and with Richards also missing, Phil Neville is in line to play right-back against the Brazilians this week, with Wayne Bridge profiting from Ashley Cole’s injury problems on the left.

The starting lineup McClaren has in mind is: Robinson, P Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, Bridge, Beckham, Gerrard, Carrick, J Cole, Owen, Crouch.

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