Hall ready for England

West Ham United striker Robert Hall is in the England Under-16 squad for Tuesday's friendly international against Germany in Hoffenheim.

Hall, who is 15, has featured regularly for the Hammers Under-16 side this season. The talented forward has also appeared for Tony Carr's Under-18s, scoring a late winner in the 2-1 FA Premier Academy League win over Charlton Athletic on 31 January.

The youngster will hope to find the scoresheet again at the Dietmar-Hopp-Stadion. Academy director Carr is hoping his young charge will do just that.

"Robert is playing for England on Tuesday night in Germany, which is why we left him out of the Under-18 squad at Norwich City on Saturday. We wanted to keep him fresh for the international game, so hopefully he can go there and do himself justice and play well. That's all we can hope for. If he does get a chance, I'm sure he'll tuck it away because he's a natural goalscorer."

Hall is joined in the England squad by four players from Manchester United, three from Chelsea, two from Liverpool and one each from Arsenal, Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic, Ipswich Town, Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion.

Kenny Swain's team will go into the game full of confidence after completing a clean-sweep of victories in the Sky Sports Victory Shield tournament in October and November. England beat Northern Ireland 6-0, Wales 1-0 and Scotland 2-0 to lift the trophy. Hall appeared as a substitute against Northern Ireland before starting the Wales match, while fellow Hammer Matthias Fanimo was a replacement in the victory over the Scots.