SUNDERLAND-BORN Jordan Henderson will earn his 24th cap when he walks out for England in his home city tonight, and he will do everything he can to help an international rookie prove he deserves to go to Euro 2016 too.

With Jamie Vardy excused from taking part in tonight’s friendly with Australia at the Stadium of Light and Daniel Sturridge struggling with a calf problem, team boss Roy Hodgson is ready to hand Marcus Rashford his first outing at the Stadium of Light.

Rashford is not due to turn 19 until the end of October but a positive international debut on Wearside could secure his place in Hodgson’s final 23-man squad for the European Championships when he announces it next week.

The Manchester United starlet was only five when England last appeared at Sunderland; that was when a raw Wayne Rooney made a stunning full debut in a 2-0 victory over Turkey when Henderson was a mere 12-year-old ball boy.

Rooney is unlikely to start tonight, but it is not inconceivable that all three players will be on the pitch together at some stage and the hope is Rashford can force his way onto the plane to France next month.

Henderson said: “Marcus can have a similar impact (to Rooney). I can’t really remember too much from that night because I was just a young ball boy, so you don’t get to see much when you are that low down watching.

“But I watched Wayne when he started to get in the England first team and remember how good he was. Marcus could definitely go that way, especially when you look at how players can progress at Manchester United.

“If he takes that into the England set up and he has no fear, like he has at Manchester United, then I am sure he will score goals. That will give him even more confidence I’m sure.”

Rashford only made his first team debut at club level at the end of February when he scored four goals in two games against FC Midtjylland and Arsenal in the space of a few days. He has gone on to score four more times.

Henderson, who is one of the names in the frame to be captain when Rooney starts on the bench tonight, said: “I will try my best if I am playing to help him out as much as I can to give him the confidence to go and perform like he has for Manchester United.

“The rest of the players will do the same so he will be in a very good frame of mind come the start of the game.”

Hodgson, if Sturridge shakes off his injury, is weighing up whether to take five strikers to France and he would love for Rashford to prove he deserves to be one of those.

The England boss said: “It’s a big night for Marcus because the staff, the players, myself, the whole of the football world, think this boy has something special.

“Can he now show it to us once again? We will do everything we can to ensure he can, he will get all the support and encouragement from the rest of the team, like Jordan said, so we will see.”

Whether or not Henderson leads the team out at the Stadium of Light, where he was both a player and fan, it will still be a proud occasion for him to be wearing a Three Lions shirt in the city where he grew up before moving to Liverpool for £20m in 2011.

The 25-year-old said: “It means a lot to the people here that England will be playing in the North-East. The people here are very passionate about their football.

“The atmosphere in the last game here against Turkey was very good and got a good result too. That atmosphere that night was brilliant as a ball boy, though – I can remember that. Hopefully it will be the same again.”

Rashford is not the only player looking to stay involved at the Euros, with Newcastle winger Andros Townsend desperate to be retained after the UEFA deadline on May 31. Hodgson has reassured the former Tottenham man that playing in the Championship next season would not affect his England chances.

Hodgson said: “It doesn’t impact on his (international) career in any particular way. He’s been given a first team chance again, first by Steve McClaren and then Rafa Benitez, and it’s given us, with that slightly enlarged squad, a chance to take a look at him.

“I picked him when he wasn’t playing for any senior team at all – he was just sitting on the bench or in the reserves at Tottenham Hotspur and I’ve done that for a few players.

“But for him to be in the (England) team he needs to be the Andros Townsend we’ve seen in the past. We would need an awful lot more (English) talent in the Premier League before we got to the stage of leaving players out because they were playing in another division.”

Hodgson stood by his decision not to recall Jermain Defoe despite his form in keeping Sunderland up.

He said: "We have put our eggs into the basket of others. I saw no reason why I should break one of those eggs and take a fresh egg into the basket, especially as we're talking about a player who's well over 30 years of age and has a certain style of play.

"As you heard me say about Marcus Rashford, we're really looking forward to the people who are more akin to Vardy and Rooney himself and Sturridge (and) Rashford. That's what we're looking for, rather than the player who's very good in the penalty box as a finisher.”