A glorious summer of football
Now that England's vital Euro 2008 qualifier in Estonia is out of the way, it's time for the under-21 side to step into the spotlight. Stuart Pearce's squad of players have a busy time ahead, with the UEFA U21 Championships in Holland starting this weekend.
The eight qualifying sides have been split into two groups of four. Joining England in Group B are the teams from the Czech Republic, Serbia and Italy. Group A consists of hosts Holland, Israel, Portugal and Belgium.
The top two teams in each group after the group stages will make it through to the semi-finals on 20 June, with the final scheduled for 23 June.
England's U21s recently had the honour of playing the first international match at the new Wembley, where a 55,000-strong crowd saw the hosts draw 3-3 in a thriller against their Italian counterparts.
Blackburn Rovers' David Bentley, called up to the full England squad for the games against Brazil and Estonia, scored from a free kick in that game and became England's first goal-scorer at the new stadium. He's been named in Pearce's squad and looks almost certain to play long into the summer.
West Ham first-teamers Nigel Reo-Coker and Anton Ferdi-nand are two other stars to look out for.
The competition gets going on Sunday. Then on Monday, England face the Czech Republic in the first of their three group matches. Tune in to SS1 from 5.00pm.
In cricket, England face the West Indies at Old Trafford in the third Test of their four-match series. Michael Vaughan's team were comprehensive winners in the second Test at Headingley, with returning swing bowler Ryan Sidebottom picking up 8 wickets for just 86 runs in the match.
England have named an unchanged 11 for the third Test. Can Sidebottom wreak as much havoc under the less favourable conditions at Old Trafford? Coverage starts on Thursday on SS1 from 10.30am.
