Nine Blues earn senior international call-ups

Last updated : 08 October 2007 By Ben Collins
New City star Elano has kept his place in Brazil's squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Colombia (Oct 14) and Ecuador (Oct 17).

Micah Richards is set to continue at right-back for England's crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers against Estonia (Oct 13) and away to Russia (Oct 17).

City captain Richard Dunne is again in the Republic of Ireland squad for their qualifiers against Germany (Oct 13) and Cyprus (Oct 17), while Stephen Ireland was surprisingly recalled after withdrawing from their last squad in controversial circumstances.

The young City midfielder had led Irish officials to believe his grandmother had died when, in fact, his girlfriend had suffered a miscarriage.

Vedran Corluka wil play for Croatia against Israel, while Bulgaria winger Martin Petrov will face Albania.

City keeper Andreas Isaksson will get a chance to prove his fitness in Sweden's crucial qualifiers against Liechtenstein (Oct 13) and Northern Ireland (Oct 17), while Georgios Samaras (Greece) and Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland) have alse been called up by their national teams.

Former Blues boss Stuart Pearce has called up young City trio Joe Hart, Michael Johnson and Nedum Onuoha for England's U21s against Montenegro and the Republic of Ireland, while Kasper Schmeichel remains in Denmark's U21 squad.