Players back in the fold

Gianfranco Zola has increased numbers as he prepares for this Saturday's trip to Stoke City after several players returned from national-team duty.

Robert Green's red card with England in the 1-0 loss away to Ukraine meant he was able to train with his club team-mates again at Chadwell Heath. Matthew Upson and Carlton Cole are still with the national team though and are being tipped to be involved at Wembley on Wednesday against Belarus. Green is expected to return with Cole and Upson for the Three Lions' trip to play Brazil in a friendly next month in Qatar.

In terms of England youth set-up, James Tomkins, Junior Stanislas and Zavon Hines, fresh from two goals on his debut, were also back from Under-21 duty following Friday's 6-3 win against FYR Macedonia. The trio - along with Freddie Sears - will then look to the visit of Portugal next month at Wembley. Frank Nouble will play for the U19s again on Wednesday against Slovakia although the Young Lions have already qualified for the next stage of their competition.

Guille Franco is also back training fully in London because of a positive prior agreement between West Ham United and the Mexican FA which saw him play in his country's decisive match that booked their place at the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa before returning. Having continued to follow an individual training programme set by the club, the striker had a major role in a 4-1 victory against El Salvador on Saturday. Mexico have a match in Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday.

Jonathan Spector was also celebrating after helping the United States reach South Africa with a 3-2 win in Honduras at the weekend. The right-back will hope to play again in their final match against Costa Rica in Washington DC on Wednesday.

Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson scored in an 8-0 rout away to San Marino on Friday and will hope to feature on Tuesday night when Iceland Under-21s welcome Northern Ireland to Grindavik. Eyjolfsson also featured last month against the same opponents when Iceland won 6-2 away. Finally, 17-year-old club-mates Deniz Mehmet and Eoin Wearen will be on opposite sides when Turkey take on the Republic of Ireland in an Under-18 friendly in Antalya on Tuesday.