Junior Stanislas has been rewarded for his form with a first England call for the Under-19 friendly against Germany on Wednesday.
The young midfielder has made outstanding progress this season and has been included with club-mate James Tomkins for the away international in Elversberg. The match will be used by coach Brian Eastick as preparation for the Elite qualifying round next Spring to decide the competing nations at the 2008 U19 European Championship.
West Ham United youth academy director Tony Carr said he was delighted both Stanislas and Tomkins had been chosen. Speaking about Stanislas, who turns 18 on 26 November, Carr said: "He was put on standby last week and I remember thinking I really hope he gets a chance.
"Now he has been named in the actual squad and I think it will be great for him. It will be a big stage for him to experience, training in a different environment and seeing what it is like on the international front. He will take it all in his stride but will also see it as a great honour and I am sure he will do well."
Carr also said it was good to see the 18-year-old defender Tomkins called up after the work he has put in returning to fitness following a long spell out with a shoulder injury. "For me, James is back to his best," he said. "It's been a frustrating time as he picked up the shoulder injury at the end of last season and wasn't able to push on as he would have liked.
"But now he has played a few games this season and I thought he was outstanding against Arsenal in the recent reserve match and back to the James we all know about, so that is great for him, West Ham and England." Eastick's side ran out comfortable qualifiers from the preliminary qualifying round in October, beating Iceland, Romania and Belgium to top the group with nine points, scoring 14 goals in the process.
Jordan Spence, who played his part in that U19 mini-tournament success after captaining England to the U17 World Cup quarter-finals this summer, has reverted to the U18 set-up and to read more about the centre-back's latest call-up click here. To keep track on the West Ham United youth and reserve sides, log on to the WHUTV Bubbling Under channel for exclusive highlights and interviews.