Upson, who has recently moved to Birmingham, has expressed understandable surprise. He got precious few chances for Arsenal this season, and the sale to Brum showed that Arsene Wenger rates Pascal Cygan above him. He's getting more games now of course, but they haven't exactly been error-free. Some observers reckon he was to blame for a couple of Chelsea's goals at the weekend. It is particularly surprising given that Chelsea's John Terry, with much more experience, has not been called up. Eriksson's comments suggest that Upson is being rewarded for leaving Arsenal. Anyway, good luck to him! Matty becomes the first Birmingham player to be selected for a senior England squad since Trevor Francis.

Jeffers' inclusion is more understandable. He is now being selected ahead of Kanu. And even if he wasn't, he deserves the call-up on the strength of his goalscoring record for the England U21 side. So far he's one of those players who has saved his best for England. That's not a criticism... some players just seem to click when they play at International level (Darren Anderton and even David Beckham spring to mind), and International managers have to be on the look out for such players.

Upson and Jeffers look likely to feature int he second half, when Eriksson has said he is planning to field an "experimental" side of youngsters.

Meanwhile Jermaine Pennant, currently on loan to Watford, has had to withdraw from the U21 side. He picked up an achilles injury in the Hornets home loss to Rotherham at the weekend.