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There will be six teenagers on duty at the World Cup in South Africa, but which of those kids is the most experienced at international level?

That honour goes to West Bromwich Albion and New Zealand striker Chris Wood who has eight senior caps at the tender age of 18.

Unfortunately, I doubt that Wood will hit any of the headlines this summer as I confidentially predict that the Kiwis will be the whipping boys of the tournament.

And just for the record, the other teens on show are: Switzerland's Xherdan Shaqiri (aged 18), Ghana's Jonathan Mensah (19), Denmark's Christian Eriksen (18) and the youthful Cameroon pair Joel Matip (18) and Vincent Aboubakar (18).

West Bromwich Albion midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu may have a lot on his mind right now. What with apparent interest from Newcastle and yet a public desire to stick it out with the Baggies in the Premier League next season.

But he didn't appear to be letting that ruin his recent break in sunny Las Vegas, as his holiday snaps (below) prove.

And it was not only Mulumbu who was enjoying America's party town (and its bikini-clad ladies) during a well-earned vacation, as a whole host of Albion team-mates including Ishmael Miller, Giles Barnes, Gianni Zuiverloon and Luke Moore appear to have joined in with the post-promotion fun.

The BBC's Football League show's top pundit Steve Claridge was at Villa Park yesterday for the Pukka Pies England Band's World Cup launch.

I popped down to quiz him on several football-related subjects but there was one question that I had to ask on behalf of all of those disgruntled West Bromwich Albion fans - why was Graham Dorrans not included in his Championship team-of-the-season?

The Scotland international's failure to make Claridge's final XI on the late night show has seen the ex-striker come in for plenty of flak on Baggies messageboards.

And, judging by his reaction, Claridge was already all too aware and a little embarrassed by the clanger that he'd inadvertently dropped in leaving out Albion's midfield star of the second-tier.

The former journeyman insists that his intention was to not include any players from the automatically-promoted duo of Newcastle and Albion, as he felt that their superior squads were incomparable to the rest of the Championship.

He picked his best XI accordingly, but it seems that some last minute meddling behind-the-scenes at the Beeb resulted in some Newcastle players slipping through the net and into the final selection, causing Claridge's popularity at the Hawthorns to fall even lower.

And here is Claridge's answer to that Dorrans question in full:

Which one of the West Midlands' big four (Villa, Blues, Wolves, Albion) looks set to have the most players at next month's World Cup?

Answer: The lowest ranked of those four - Premier League-bound Albion, who will have five players off to South Africa, all being well.
They are: Marek Cech (Slovakia), Robert Koren (Slovenia), Abdoulaye Meite (Ivory Coast), Chris Wood (New Zealand), Gonzala Jara (Chilie).

And at the preliminary squad stage, Villa have four poised to go - England trio James Milner, Emile Heskey and Stephen Warnock as well as USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

As well as having their boss in the commentary booth, Wolves look set to have three representatives at the World Cup - Marcus Hahnemann (USA), Nenad Milijas (Serbia) and Adlene Guedioura (Algeria).

And, seeing as they helped propel the individual in question to new heights, Blues squeak in with one, Joe Hart who will head back to his parent club Manchester City following the tournament.

About three weeks ago, I was down at West Bromwich Albion's training ground when I heard Chris Brunt being asked if he fancied having a go at Soccer AM's Bullseye Challenge.

For those who don't know, the Sky Sports show's weekly challenge pits two professionals from the same club against each with the winner being the one who hits the bullseye on a darts board in the least amount of throws.

Brunt didn't seem keen at the time, insisting that he wasn't very good at darts. Perhaps it was because he was told that he'd be facing club captain Scott Carson, a self-confessed sharp-shooter with the arrows.

Well as it turned out, it didn't matter who Brunt was up against:

THE time has come for motion-sick West Bromwich Albion to clamber off that yo-yo and cut the string that usually spins them back down into the Championship.

The manner in which the Baggies have sailed towards automatic promotion with relative ease this season should be applauded, especially given their forced managerial upheaval last summer.

But now Albion must look to do a Bolton, Wigan or Fulham and finally cement their place in the top flight for years to come.

Money talks in the Premier League, but unless Jeremy Peace loses his marbles or a billionaire knight in shining armour rides into the Hawthorns this summer, large sums of cash aren't going to be thrown at the Baggies' cause.

I do believe that the belt tightening that is taking place at a lot of Premier League clubs (Manchester United included, albeit as a result of the Glazer's mountain of debt) will aid Peace's cautious approach to squad strengthening.

It would be foolish to believe that the Albion ranks don't need significant reinforcing ahead of their imminent return to the Premier League, so as ever, astuteness will be required.

And luckily for Peace and Albion, there's no better example to follow than the one on their doorstep.

Birmingham City have taken the Premier League by storm this season and, although they were buoyed by the Carson Yeung takeover, their sensational return to the top flight had nothing to do with big spending.

In particular, one aspect has been key to the Blues' raid on the top ten and it's a leaf that the Baggies need to take out of Alex McLeish's book. Three players - Barry Ferguson, Lee Bowyer and Stephen Carr - have been crucial to Blues this season; a trio with a combined age of 98.

That's experience Albion don't currently have but something they will need in the Premier League.

The continued success of the region's football teams this season has given us plenty to talk about during our weekly online video shows.

So whether you're a Wembley-bound Villan, a Premier League-bound Baggie or a top ten-bound Bluenose, there's something to keep you all entertained below.

This week's Villa View looks ahead to Martin O'Neill's side's second trip to Wembley and includes an interview with the hero at the Reebok, Ashley Young.

Albion are tantalisingly close to an immediate return to the Premier League promised land and in this week's Baggies View we hear Roberto Di Matteo's call for focus while Chris Lepkowski discusses the potential for post-promotion public celebrations.

Silverware may be out of the question, but Bluenoses won't care as their team continue to upset the Premier League's big-boys. In this week's Blues View we hear off Alex McLeish and unlikely goal--scoring hero Liam Ridgewell, while Colin Tattum talks kits.

Everything is rosy in the West Bromwich Albion garden at the moment, apart from one man - Luke Moore.

Apart from moving a step closer to automatic promotion and the magic of Graham Dorrans, the main talking point from the Hawthorns on Saturday was the booing that a very vocal minority of home fans directed towards the much-maligned Moore.

It's a subject my colleague Chris Lepkowski touches on in this week's Baggies View.

The 24-year-old Brummie has never been the most popular striker to pull on the blue and white stripes and the ex-England Under-21 international's failure to reproduce anything remotely close to the form that had him tipped as a future Three Lions star during his early Villa days has only further soured fans' opinions of him.

There's no doubt that good old fashioned hard work (which should get just rewards in the form of goals) is the only thing that can salvage Moore's Albion career now.

And, in his older brother Stefan, Moore has a ready-made reminder of how quickly a professional football career can be over.

Stefan captained Villa to the 2002 FA Youth Cup final and was once ranked alongside a certain Wayne Rooney. However after making his first-team breakthrough at Villa Park, his career steadily slipped downhill.

Now 26-years-old, he finds himself playing for Halesowen Town in the Zamaretto Southern League Premier Division.

If Moore junior finds himself struggling to get up for the likes of Reading and Leicester City in the coming weeks of Albion's push for the Premier League, then he just needs to take one look at his brother preparing for the challenge of Chippenham Town and Swindon Supermarine in English football's seventh-tier.

If he's not careful, then he could see his career take a similar nose dive.

WHEN it comes to the choppy waters of football finances, there isn't a ship more watertight than HMS West Midlands.

In the north-west, there are passengers aboard the great ship Manchester United frantically waving their green and yellow scarves as their owners steers them towards the huge iceberg that is debt.

In the north-east, there's a black and white-striped vessel heading back to the high seas, but with a looney Toon in charge that's still unsure whether to jump overboard.

Up in Scotland, two battered Glaswegian boats remain afloat, just.

Down in the capital, a Russian yacht decorated with a Chelsea crest sails along in calm waters but a storm is brewing in the distance, while the claret and blue cruise liner that is West Ham United was only averted from danger at the last minute by two cockney merchants after a series of crackpot captains had led it astray.

And, of course, down on the south-coast, everybody knows about the ferry that hit the rocks in Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth.

Pompey's punishment for entering administration, in the form of a point-less nine-point deduction, keeps the alarm bells ringing over this debt-ridden industry that we call British football.