Theo Walcott becomes England's youngest ever international on this day.

The record for England’s youngest player stood for almost 125 years after James Prinsep pulled on the Three Lions at the age of 17 years and 252 days in 1879.

It was broken, however, when a young Everton forward by the name of Wayne Rooney burst onto the international stage at 17 years and 111 days in 2003. Rooney came on at half-time against Australia in a friendly at Upton Park and showed glimpses of what was to come from England’s current talisman.

Still only 24, Rooney has amassed an incredible 60 caps – including today's fixture with Japan – scoring 25 goals and has also captained his side in a friendly against Brazil in 2009.

However, while he has every opportunity to break several more England records during his career, he can no longer claim to be England’s youngest cap.  

That honour now sits with Arsenal’s Theo Walcott, who at 17 years and 75 days snatched the record three years after Rooney’s debut, coming on as a substitute against Hungary in 2006.

Since that time Walcott has only managed to take the field for the seniors a further ten

times but that does include bagging a stylish hat-trick in England’s World Cup Qualifier against Croatia, in 2008, as the Three Lions ran out 4-1 winners.

Incredibly, both these young guns will be hoping to play a significant part in their second World Cups this summer.