Jack Rodwell played for 56 minutes as England Under-21s drew 1-1 in Greece.
England took the lead after just five minutes of the European Championship qualifier through Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge, but their lead only lasted until four minutes before half time.
Sotiris Ninis was the Greeks' scorer as his long range effort took a cruel deflection off Everton man Rodwell and deceived keeper Scott Loach.
Miles Addison of Derby was the player who replaced Rodwell with less than an hour gone; the Blues midfielder will now return to Merseyside to prepare for the weekend trip to Fulham.
Later on Tuesday evening, Steven Pienaar played for South Africa as they took on the Republic of Ireland in Limerick, the Everton man's encroachment allowed Stoke's Liam Lawrence to score at the second attempt from a free kick. The midfielder was carded for his misdemeanour and his side were unable to find an equaliser.
Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for Everton's younger players. James Wallace made his first appearacne at any level for England as their Under-19 side came from behind to beat Russia 2-1 at Shrewsbury's ProStar Stadium. The midfielder came on as a second half substitute, helping the young Lions to turn the game through goals from Newcastle's Niall Ranger and Man Utd's Reece Brown.
But Shane Duffy and Northern Ireland Under-21s had a nightmare evening as they were thrashed 6-2 at home by Iceland in an Euro 2011 qualifier in Coleraine.
Coming up on Wednesday, Marouane Fellaini’s Belgium face a World Cup qualifier against Armenia with their chances of making it to the tournament in South Africa all but gone following their 5-0 defeat to Spain last week.
Everton’s new recruit John Heitinga travels to Hampden Park as Holland, who have already secured their place in the tournament, face Scotland in a must-win match for George Burley’s side in Group 9.
Tim Howard visits the Port of Spain for the USA’s match against Trinidad and Tobago and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov will be playing at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium as Russia take on Wales.
