International friendly preview: England v Netherlands

Stuart Pearce will stake his claim to stay in charge of England until Euro 2012 when his side play the Netherlands on Wednesday.

Following Fabio Capello’s resignation in early February, Harry Redknapp has been lurking in the shadows for the England role, but his reluctance to take on the full-time gig while in charge of Champions League bound Tottenham, gives caretaker Pearce an opportunity to make his mark.

The former Manchester City boss named six Manchester United players in a youthful 25-man squad for the international friendly, including Wayne Rooney and the uncapped Tom Cleverley, but the duo have both been ruled out.

Rooney remains sidelined with a throat infection that has kept him out of United’s last two matches, including Sunday’s 2-1 win at Norwich, while Cleverley (ankle) joins Aston Villa front man Darren Bent (ankle) as others to be ruled out.

Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry is also a major doubt after sustaining a hamstring injury and back spasm in his side’s 3-0 win over Blackburn on Saturday.

Pearce will name replacements with potential debutant Frazier Campbell, United’s Danny Welbeck and Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge the only three strikers left in the squad.

Campbell has saved his stuttering career with a fine run of form for Sunderland in England’s top flight and may now earn a first cap despite not being selected in Martin O’Neill’s side which lost 4-0 to West Brom on Saturday.

Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Ashley Young are the other three United players in the squad while veterans Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were not selected in favour of youth.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart is one of few certainties to start on the back of his continued fine form for in City’s goal.

The Netherlands will be sporting a new all-black away kit at Wembley as they look to reverse a worrying recent run of results with losses to Germany, Sweden and a draw with Switzerland.

Defensive frailties were highlighted in that trio of matches but manager Bert van Marwijk has resisted the temptation to include any new defenders in his squad.

Arsenal’s irrepressible striker Robin van Persie heads a list of seven Premier League-based players in their squad along with goalkeepers Tim Krul (Newcastle) and Michel Vorm (Swansea), and outfield players Johnny Heitinga (Everton), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City) and Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham).

Uncapped duo Ola John (FC Twente) and Luciano Narsingh (Heerenveen) have been included in the squad along with former Chelsea winger Arjen Robben, Mark van Bommel and Wesley Sneijder.

In 18 games between the nations, England have won five, the Netherlands have won four and nine ended in draws.

It will be the Netherlands’ first trip to the new 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium.