Republic of Ireland under-21 manager Don Givens has called-up Birmingham City’s Alex Bruce, son of Blues manager Steve, to the 18-man squad to play Sweden next week.
The under-21’s face Sweden in a friendly on Tuesday next, February 28th, in United Park, Drogheda.
The younger Bruce was indirectly involved in controversy last week when team-mate Nicky Butt stormed out of the team hotel when Steve told him he was being dropped in favour of his son for the West Ham game.
Givens has also named a number of other players who were not available for the Madeira Tournament which the under-age side won last week.
"We had a great week of football in Madeira, the professionalism the squad showed both on and off the pitch was second to none and the quality of football was extremely high," said Givens.
"We need to build on this in preparation for our preliminary rounds for the European championships and this game against Sweden will begin our journey.
"Based on the performances of some players during the Madeira Tournament competition for places is very high and everyone will have to perform to the best of their ability on Tuesday next."
Squad in full: Darren Quigley (UCD), Colin Doyle (Millwall), Kevin Foley (Luton), Paul McShane (Brighton), Marcos Painter (Birmingham City), Alex Bruce (Birmingham City), Richard Keogh (Bristol City), James Hand (Huddersfield Town), Willo Flood (Manchester City), Gary Dicker (UCD), Darren Potter (Liverpool), Glenn Whelan (Sheffield Wednesday), Michael Timlin (Fulham), Roy O’Donovan (Cork City), Jay Tabb (Brentford), Stephen Ward (Bohemians), Andy Keogh (Scunthorpe United), Leon Best (Sheffield Wednesday).
