Two of West Ham United's promising young goalkeepers have been called up for international duty by their respective nations.
The Under-18 shot-stopper Adam Street, 17, has been named in the Canada Under-20 squad for the 2009 CONCACAF Men's Under-20 Championship in Trinidad and Tobago. Canada are in a four-team group with Mexico, Costa Rica and hosts Trinidad and Tobago. The four teams will play a round-robin series starting 6 March at Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya.
The top two teams in the group then advance to the elimination round, which concludes with the final on 15 March. The four teams in the opposite group are USA, El Salvador, Honduras and Jamaica. The top four teams - two from each group - also qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup to be played in Egypt later this year.
Meanwhile, Under-16 custodian Deniz Mehmet, 16, has been named in the Turkey squad for his country's UEFA European Under-17 Championship Elite Round against Wales, Romania and Finland in the final week of March. All three matches will be held at the 5 Ocak Stadium in the Turkish town of Adana. Should Turkey top their group, they will qualify for the finals in Germany in May.
Academy goalkeeping coach Jerome John said the call-ups were a boost for both the players involved and the club as a whole.
"Adam has been doing really well. He has worked really hard and has been rewarded with a couple of reserve team appearances. When he has been called upon he has done well and we have high hopes for him for the future. Ludek Miklosko is excited about his prospects and the fact that we have another good young goalkeeper coming through.
"Deniz has also played well for us and is going to represent his country at an age-group a year higher than he could be playing in. He has recently come back from a successful tournament in La Manga in Spain and is full of confidence.
"Myself, Ludek and all the coaching staff at the club are all very excited about the promising crop of young goalkeepers we have coming through and there are more to come."
Alongside Street and Mehmet, West Ham also possess England international Robert Green, former Czech Republic Under-21 international Jan Lastuvka - who is on a year-long loan from Shakhtar Donetsk - Czech Under-19 international Marek Stech and Hungary Under-21 international Peter Kurucz.