Kid's stuff of dreams as Rooney wins the call

Sven plans generation game of two halves as Beattie and Jenas make grade

Everton's precocious striker Wayne Rooney will climax an extraordinary six months by becoming the youngest player to appear for England at some stage of Wednesday's friendly international against Australia at Upton Park. It will be the ultimate game of two halves, with a total of nine uncapped players hoping to make an appearance as Sven Goran Eriksson fields what will in effect be an under-25 team after half-time.

The England coach has yielded to pressure from the country's biggest clubs to use their players for no more than 45 minutes. He will put out a first-choice team ­ or as near as injuries allow ­ in the opening half, then switch to "a team for the future", which he hopes the full house and televison audience will find more appealing than a shadow squad.

The Leeds goalkeeper Paul Robinson has been promised half a game, and could find Tottenham's Ledley King, Birmingham's Matthew Upson and Charlton's left-back Paul Konchesky defending in front of him ­ but not John Terry of Chelsea, who along with Gareth Barry and Jermain Defoe, is left out. There are three midfield graduates from the Under-21 side in Jermaine Jenas (Newcastle), Sean Davis (Fulham) and Scott Parker (Charlton) and three new strikers: the prolific James Beattie of Southampton, Rooney and Arsenal's Francis Jeffers.

It is Rooney who will command most attention. On Wednesday, the Merseysider will be 17 years and 111 days, more than three months younger than the little-known James Prinsep of Clapham Rovers, who played against Scotland in 1879. Rooney has another 13 months in which to succeed his local rival Michael Owen as the youngest England goalscorer.

Eriksson, who missed his brief appearance as a substitute in Everton's 2-1 defeat at Charlton yesterday, said: "He will play. He has great quality, is very strong and makes things happen." Things have been happening at great speed in Wayne's World since the opening day of the season, when he made a Premiership debut against Tottenham two months before his 17th birthday. He was still 16 when scoring the astonishing last-minute goal that beat the champions Arsenal at Goodison Park in October, only 10 minutes after coming on as substitute. That moment effectively won him BBC Sport's Young Personality of the Year award and confirmed the emergence of a rare talent.

Since then he has signed a lucrative new contract, scored further winning goals against Leeds and Blackburn, missed a penalty at Chelsea in the Worthington Cup and been sent off at Birmingham, all without appearing in the slightest bit fazed.

Perhaps he will take the England call the same way but he said that when his club manager, David Moyes, informed him, "I was really happy and asked when the Under-21s had to report. He just laughed, shook his head, and said, 'No, the full squad'. I couldn't believe it. To have the chance to be around senior internationals will be a great experience".

Upson, who has just left Arsenal to join Birmingham seeking regular first-team football, was "shocked, stunned, all those things". He said: "It was something I was not expecting at this stage. I had a good spell with the Under-21s and it was big, big dream of mine one day to get into the full England squad."

The West Ham crowd will be disappointed at Defoe's absence, though David James is likely to be given a boost to his confidence by starting in goal ­ David Seaman being left out of friendlies as usual. The home club's Joe Cole is among the contenders for the problematic position on the left of midfield, but Trevor Sinclair, who played there in the World Cup, is left out and Michael Carrick, also having a patchy season, will be with Defoe and the Under-21s in Italy.

So will Aston Villa's Barry, to his huge disappointment and perhaps to the surprise of David Platt, the Under-21 coach who has been singing his praises. Eriksson admits that he has not found another youngster to challenge for the wide-left position and that it will be necessary to change the formation for the second half of the game, almost certainly to 4-3-3.

Among the strikers, Alan Smith and Emile Heskey are unavailable, but Eriksson has made it clear that he has lost no faith in Owen. A greater worry is the number of players involved today in what are certain to be fiercely contested matches between Manchester United and Manchester City, and Newcastle and Arsenal. They include the whole first-choice back four of Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole. Three other defenders, Jonathan Woodgate, Ugo Ehiogu and Wayne Bridge, were not considered because of injury.

The absence of Liverpool's midfielder Steven Gerrard, serving a domestic suspension, gives Chelsea's Frank Lampard the opportunity to stake his claim ahead of the Euro 2004 qualifiers next month against Liechtenstein and Turkey.

Youngest Babes

Wayne Rooney will write his name in the record books again if he plays against Australia on Wednesday. The Everton striker, born on 24 October 1985, is set to become England's youngest ever inter-national at Upton Park. Here are the 10 youngest England debutants on record:

James Prinsep: aged 17 years 253 days, v Scotland (5 April 1879)

Thurston Rostron: 17 years 312 days, v Wales (26 Feb 1881)

Clement Mitchell: 18 years 24 days, v Wales (5 Mar 1880)

Michael Owen: 18 years 59 days, v Chile (11 Feb 1998)

Duncan Edwards: 18 years 184 days, v Scotland (2 April 1955)

James Brown: 18 years 211 days, v Wales (26 Feb 1881)

Arthur Brown: 18 years 330 days, v Wales (29 Feb 1904)

Rio Ferdinand: 19 years 8 days, v Cameroon (15 Nov 1997)

Thomas Lawton: 19 years 16 days, v Wales (22 Oct 1938)

Albert Geldard: 19 years 32 days, v Italy (13 May 1933).