Pearce turns to City slickers

Stuart Pearce has named his first England squad since his full-time appointment as coach, including three players from his former club Manchester City FC.

New faces
There are eight new faces in the 21-man selection to face Romania at Bristol City FC on Tuesday – as well as eight who helped England to the semi-finals of this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship in the Netherlands, where they lost 13-12 on penalties to the hosts.

Johnson winner
Pearce has turned to Manchester City, the club he managed until May, by calling up 19-year-old midfielder Michael Johnson along with team-mates Nedum Onuoha and Joe Hart. Johnson scored the goal in City's 1-0 victory against Derby County FC on Wednesday, which made it two Premier League wins out of two for Sven-Göran Eriksson's new-look side.

'Fantastic finish'
Eriksson said of City's youthful contingent: "People forget there are a lot of good young British players here and they are all doing very well. Michael's goal was incredible, a really fantastic finish." The other newcomers to Pearce's squad are defenders Martin Cranie, Craig Gardner, Michael Mancienne and David Wheater; midfielders Adam Johnson, Michael Kightly and Fabrice Muamba; plus striker Dexter Blackstock.

Experience retained
Theo Walcott and Andrew Taylor return after missing the summer finals through injury while Gabriel Agbonlahor, who failed to go to the Netherlands because the Football Association could not contact him, also earns a recall. Winger James Milner is in line to equal Scott Carson's U21 record of 29 caps.

Qualifying dates
Pearce said: "I'm looking forward to the challenge of qualification for the 2009 finals and working to develop future England internationals. It was a privilege to work with the young players this summer. Many of those are still available and will form the core of the squad over the next two years." England begin their Group 3 qualifying campaign away to Montenegro on 7 September before visiting Bulgaria four days later.

England squad
Goalkeepers: Ben Alnwick (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Joe Hart (Manchester City FC).

Defenders: Martin Cranie (Portsmouth FC), Craig Gardner (Aston Villa FC), Michael Mancienne (Queen's Park Rangers FC), Nedum Onuoha (Manchester City FC), Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough FC), Steven Taylor (Newcastle United FC), David Wheater (Middlesbrough FC).

Midfielders: Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Adam Johnson (Middlesbrough FC), Michael Johnson (Manchester City FC), Michael Kightly (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), James Milner (Newcastle United FC), Fabrice Muamba (Birmingham City FC), Mark Noble (West Ham United FC).

Forwards: Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa FC), Dexter Blackstock (Queen's Park Rangers FC), Matt Derbyshire (Blackburn Rovers FC), Luke Moore (Aston Villa FC), Theo Walcott (Arsenal FC).