Quintet set for England

Mark Noble leads West Ham United's band of young Englishmen preparing for international duty over the coming three weeks

The midfielder has been called into the England Under-21 squad for the upcoming friendlies against Norway and France.

Former Hammer Stuart Pearce's squad will travel to Sandefjord in southern Norway for a match at the Komplett.no Arena on Friday 27 March before returning home to take on France at Nottingham Forest's City Ground on Tuesday 31 March.

Both matches will act as warm-up games ahead of this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals in Sweden. There, Noble and his team-mates will face Finland, Spain and Germany as they seek to lift the trophy for the third time in England's history and for the first time since 1984.

The 21-year-old, who has scored three goals in 14 appearances at Under-21 level, was part of the squad that reached the semi-finals in 2007 before going down 13-12 on penalties to eventual champions Netherlands.

Aside from Noble, James Tomkins, Freddie Sears, Jordan Spence and Robert Hall are also set to pull on the Three Lions.

Central defender Tomkins and striker Sears will both make their bow at Under-20 level in a friendly against Italy at Queens Park Rangers' Loftus Road home on Tuesday 31 March. The pair are among nine players in Noel Blake's squad who represented England at the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Czech Republic last summer and could feature at this summer's FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt.

Central defender Spence, who is currently enjoying a successful loan spell at League One outfit Leyton Orient, has been named in Brian Eastick's Under-19 squad for a friendly international against Czech Republic at Walsall on Wednesday 25 March. Spence, 19, and his colleagues will use the match as preparation for May's UEFA European Under-19 Championship Elite Qualifying Round, when they will host Scotland, Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in a bid to reach the finals in Ukraine in July.

Finally, youth team striker Hall is in Kenny Swain's Under-16 squad for the prestigious Montaigu Tournament in France in early April. England will take on Russia on Wednesday 8 April before facing the United Arab Emirates 24 hours later. Swain's youngsters conclude their group stage matches against the Ivory Coast on Saturday 11 April. Should they top their group, England will face either France, Australia, Germany or Mali in the final on Monday 13 April.

The senior England squad, who face a Wembley friendly against Slovakia on Saturday 28 March before hosting Ukraine in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches on Wednesday 1 April, will be named on Sunday evening. Goalkeeper Robert Green, defender Matthew Upson, midfielder Scott Parker and striker Carlton Cole will all be hoping to be included.