Matthew Upson is the only Midland Premiership player in Sven-Goran Eriksson's England squad to face Denmark in Copenhagen tonight.
But, if all goes well at Birmingham City this season, manager Steve Bruce quietly hopes he might be one of as many as five Blues players in the 22 for the World Cup in Germany next summer.
Nicky Butt is looking for his summer move to St Andrew's to kick-start his international career. Emile Heskey, who has not played since conceding a fateful free-kick against France in Euro 2004, will be in contention again if he can reproduce the form that got him a recall to the squad last season.
Upson is already a regular part of Eriksson's thinking while David Dunn has a massive incentive, assuming he has overcome his long-term fears following back surgery.
Perhaps most excitingly of all, after all last season's personal problems, Jermaine Pennant has a great shop window in which to showcase his undoubted talents in the next nine months.
"Even the chance that we might get three or four in the World Cup squad just shows how far we've evolved in the last three years," Bruce said.
"No disrespect to the lads who were here before but, while the squad is not as big as we'd like and is not quite healthy yet because of injuries, it does bear well for the future. The goal for them is to try to make their way through to the World Cup.
"It's not just the English lads, it's the same for Mario Melchiot with the Dutch and Kenny Cunningham and Clinton Morrison with the Irish.
"It's a big year for everyone concerned with football, because of what's looming at the end of this season."
Eriksson's squad for Germany might already seem like a closed shop as far as the national football writers, who have already picked it, are concerned.
But there are bound to be injuries by next May and the rapid progress of Kieran Richardson last term, from little-known West Bromwich Albion loan player in January to two-goal hero on his England debut in June, is evidence of what can be achieved.
Bruce believes Pennant is capable of something similar, saying: "The world is his oyster. There is no question about his fantastic football ability but he has to take what he did at the back end of the season for us and produce it on a regular basis - do it week in and week out and obviously set higher standards of himself and how he leads his life.
"He can be anything he wants to be because we've all seen Shaun Wright-Phillips go for huge sackfuls of money to Chelsea and Jermaine Pennant has got all the ability that he has got. The rest is up to Jermaine but he is trying his utmost to change."
As for Butt, Bruce believes that there is still plenty of mileage on his international clock, even at the age of 30. He said: "I remember him playing in the World Cup tie in Azerbaijan last season and he is clearly still a vital part of Sven-G^ran Eriksson's England set-up."
Butt won the last of his 39 caps alongside his new Blues team-mate Upson in England's 1-0 defeat to Spain in Madrid last November.
Shortly after that, he suffered the groin injury that was to wreck his season with Newcastle but, if there are to be more international appearances for the man voted the best player of the last World Cup by Pele, he knows he has to get it right at club level first.
