DARREN Bent has been called into the England Under-21 squad to play Croatia in a friendly on Tuesday, writes Derek Davis.David Platt will later today officially name the party to play at Upton Park on Tuesday but Bent will win his second cap at this level after making his debut against Italy in May.

DARREN Bent has been called into the England Under-21 squad to play Croatia in a friendly on Tuesday, writes Derek Davis.

David Platt will later today officially name the party to play at Upton Park on Tuesday but Bent will win his second cap at this level after making his debut against Italy in May.

His selection makes it a double England celebration for Ipswich Town next week, with the full senior squad in town for their friendly against Croatia at Portman Road, on Wednesday.

The England Under-21s are currently third in their European Championship group behind Turkey and Portugal but with games in Macedonia and Portugal to come they can still qualify.

Sven-Goran Eriksson will name his squad tonight after the first Premiership games of the season, with former Town favourite Kieron Dyer expected to be included.

Another Ipswich old boy, Richard Wright, has not recovered sufficiently from a shoulder injury and will not be making a return to Portman Road.

David Beckham has asked to be included even though Eriksson believes the Real Madrid player may need rest after his summer excitement.

Many of the usual stars will be in the side, including Michael Owen, Paul Scholes and Sol Campbell.

With two Euro 2004 qualifying matches coming up in September, Eriksson is expected to use this game to make a large amount of substitutions once again.

n Tickets for Tuesday's Under-21 international are still available priced £10 and £5.