Albion colleagues Jake Forster-Caskey and Glen Rea are on a collision course for their countries.

The pair could face each other this week at St George’s Park.

England under-21s play the Republic of Ireland under-21s behind-closed-doors on Friday (3pm).

The clash is a warm-up for Gareth Southgate’s youngsters as they prepare for the Euro finals in the Czech Republic later this month.

Midfielder Forster-Caskey is part of Southgate’s 23-man squad, trimmed from 27, reporting to St George’s Park today.

Rea, Albion’s versatile under-21s captain, skippered the Irish yesterday afternoon in a 2-1 friendly defeat by England C in Galway.

Striker Shamir Fenelon, released by the Seagulls at the end of the season, featured in the goalless first half.

Brighton-born Rea, who qualifies to play for Ireland through his late grandfather, told The Argus: “It’s an honour to be captain of my country. It’s my first time and I was buzzing.

“I actually found out in the morning in the team meeting. I was absolutely delighted.

“It was a bad result but I didn’t think we deserved to lose. It wasn’t the result we wanted but they were a physical team and we’ll learn from it and go again on Friday, which is another big test for us.”