Manchester United defender Wes Brown is the second player to retire from international duty with England despite being called up for Wednesday’s friendly against Hungary (England 2/7, Hungary 8/1, draw 7/2 – 90 Minutes) at Wembley.

The 30-year-old versatile stopper joined Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson in calling time on his career with the Three Lions after the pair were given a chance to prove coach Fabio Capello wrong for leaving them out of his World Cup squad this summer.

Robinson stated that he found the role of being a number three or four goalkeeper with England ‘very frustrating’ and that was his reason for quitting.

Meanwhile, the Football Association confirmed that Brown made the journey to England’s team hotel in Watford on Sunday evening to inform Capello of his decision to retire. In a statement, Brown revealed that he wanted to step aside to allow younger players to make the step up into the squad ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifiers (England 1/12 – To Qualify).

He added: “I regard it as an honour and a privilege to have represented my country at every level from under-15s upwards. I have always been very proud to play for England and wish them well in future tournaments.”

Brown only won 23 caps for England since been called up by Kevin Keegan, ironically against Hungary, in 1999, mainly due to a myriad of injury problems. He was part of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s squad for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea but he failed to feature in a single game.

Brown did feature in Capello’s first two games in charge against Switzerland and France before more injury problems sidelined him. And he did not even make the provisional 30-man squad for the summer’s World Cup in South Africa as Liverpool duo Glen Johnson and Jamie Carragher were picked ahead of him.

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