“Play well for me and I will try to get you into the England senior squad” was the message from Stuart Pearce to his players yesterday as they prepared for this evening’s European Under-21 Championship qualifying match against Ireland in Southampton.

As the England Under-21 head coach, Pearce is in the position of being able to report directly to Fabio Capello, the England manager, about the progress of players such as Aaron Lennon and Joe Hart, who many observers believe are unlucky not to be playing for the senior team against Switzerland at Wembley tomorrow.

“I’ve had talks with Fabio and he’s very, very keen to know who the next group of players coming through are,” Pearce said. “When he arrived, he probably already knew the big hitters in this country, but he’s keen to know who the others on the outside are. Because of my role with the senior team, I’ll be going straight from the under-21 match to join up with the main squad and you can bet I’ll be telling him who has impressed.”

A capacity crowd of more than 32,000 is expected this evening at St Mary’s, where Pearce’s team will be almost certain of a place in the play-offs for the finals in Sweden in June 2009 if they defeat a team whom they beat 3-0 in Cork last October. The centre of attention is likely to be Theo Walcott, who will return to St Mary’s for the first time since he left Southampton for Arsenal two years ago.

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BACKGROUND

• Capello cracks whip and spells out expectations

• Makeover could transform roles

• New diet of formalities and discipline

• Jenas keeps it simple to worry Lampard

BACKGROUND

• Beckham admits call-up would have been 'unfair'

• Taylor's advice to Capello: just win, mate

• New kit cuts dash as players make sharp exit

• Pearce gives charges senior incentive

England (possible; 4-4-2): J Hart (Manchester City) – C Gardner (Aston Villa), S Taylor (Newcastle United), D Wheater (Middlesbrough), J Mattock (Leicester City) – A Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), T Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur), M Noble (West Ham United), J Milner (Newcastle United) – T Walcott (Arsenal), C Jerome (Birmingham City). Ireland (possible; 4-4-2): S Supple (Falkirk) – E Nolan (Blackburn Rovers), J O’Cearuill (St Patrick’s Athletic), D O’Dea (Celtic), R Keogh (Bristol City) – J-J O’Toole (Watford), O Garvan (Ipswich Town), S Quinn (Sheffield United), A Rooney (Stoke City) – A Stokes (Sunderland), A Keogh (Wolverhampton Wanderers).

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