Sven-Goran Eriksson half fulfilled his promise to name England's best soccer side to play Australia on Wednesday.

But his best 11 are only going to play for 45 minutes as the England soccer coach also selected a batch of novices, including 17-year-old Wayne Rooney, whom he plans to blood in the second half of the Upton Park friendly.

While David Beckham, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand and company open the match, Eriksson said he would field an under-26 team after the break against the Socceroos who could feel slightly cheated that Australia's first game in England has been reduced to a trial match.

The Swede named eight debutants in his 27-man squad after agreeing with Australian coach Frank Farina that he could make 11 substitutions.

His two-team plan is a compromise with the clubs who pressured him to rest players during hectic league and Cup schedules while he needed his best squad together for England's only game before next month's European qualifiers against Turkey and Liechtenstein.

"If I can have the best players for 45 minutes, that's good enough for me as I think it's wrong to ask any more of them," he said.

"It's much more important to beat Turkey at home and to do that, we need fresh, fit players."

He anticipated some flak.

"I know it might be a problem for the public and maybe for the FA with TV money but I'm sure you'll see a very interesting team for the future in the second-half," he said.

Farina said he was never worried about the number of substitutions in a friendly.

"We'll only be making three or four, Sven mentioned 11. It's not as if it's a huge problem," he said.

Farina, however, wondered whether Eriksson would go through with his plan.

He recalled the French team planning a similar tactic in a friendly in Melbourne in November 2001 until they found themselves 1-0 down at halftime and so made no substitutions as they salvaged a 1-1 draw.

But, if at halftime on Wednesday night, Eriksson was facing either a possible loss to Australia or the wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, the powerful Manchester United and Arsenal managers are likely to win.

In his "vision of the future", Eriksson will make Rooney the youngest English international in history when he brings on the Everton forward, who will be 17 years and 111 days on Wednesday.

"He will play. Maybe not from the start, but he will come on at some stage," Eriksson said.

"Everyone that I've talked to says he's a special talent, so why not look at him in a friendly game if I have chosen to pick a young squad?"

There were also surprise call-ups for Francis Jeffers and Matthew Upson as well as Charlton duo Scott Parker and Paul Konchesky.

As expected, Southampton striker James Beattie was selected for his first cap after heading the premier league goalscorers for most of the season, while Jermaine Jenas, 19, and Sean Davis also got the nod.

Steven Gerrard was not considered because of a league suspension, while Wayne Bridge and Jonathan Woodgate were today joined on the injury list by Emile Heskey and Alan Smith.

Veteran goalkeeper David Seaman was rested with David James to start in goal and be relieved by Leeds' Paul Robinson after halftime.

Eriksson kept faith with Owen despite the Liverpool striker's recent goal drought and, after Heskey's knee injury, could team him with Beattie in the first half although Darius Vassel was also an option.

England squad:

David James (West Ham), Paul Robinson (Leeds), Richard Wright (Everton); Gary Neville (Man Utd), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Danny Mills (Leeds), Paul Konchesky (Charlton), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Sol Campbell (Arsenal), Ledley King (Tottenham), Wes Brown (Man Utd), Matthew Upson (Birmingham); David Beckham (Man Utd), Paul Scholes (Man Utd), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Kieron Dyer (Newcastle), Jermaine Jenas (Newcastle), Sean Davis (Fulham), Scott Parker (Charlton), Danny Murphy (Liverpool), Joe Cole (West Ham); Michael Owen (Liverpool), Wayne Rooney (Everton), James Beattie (Southampton), Darius Vassell (Aston Villa), Francis Jeffers (Arsenal).

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