ONLINE POLL: Wembley line-up to offer clues for opener in Brazil

THE countdown to this year’s World Cup will be stepped up a gear tonight after Roy Hodgson revealed that England’s starting XI against Denmark could offer a good indication of his plans for the summer.
England manager Roy Hodgson (Picture: PA Wire).England manager Roy Hodgson (Picture: PA Wire).
England manager Roy Hodgson (Picture: PA Wire).

A crowd of around 70,000 is expected at Wembley for the Three Lions’ final friendly before Hodgson plans to name his provisional 30-man squad for the Brazil finals in mid-May.

England will then have three more warm-up games before taking on Italy in what could prove to be a pivotal opening Group D encounter in Manaus on June 14.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Defeat against the Italians would pile the pressure on Hodgson’s men ahead of meeting Uruguay five days later and that means the England manager is determined not to waste so much as a single minute of preparation time before his squad head to South America.

“It could be, yes,” said Hodgson when asked if tonight’s friendly was likely to be an insight into his plans for the World Cup.

“I can’t deny that. Whenever, as England manager, you put a team on the field people are going to read into your thoughts.

“I am not going to say how we are going to line up. We have several alternatives. The players who start the game will, of course, have a major impact on how we will play, because I want them to play in their positions. So, you can be certain Raheem Sterling won’t be in goal.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We will have a very strong team at the start and if I make changes we will have a strong team in the second half as well.

“Whether it will be exactly the same system remains to be seen and anyway systems are far less important to me than principles of play. We will be working on the same principles of play, that is for sure.”

As committed as Hodgson is to start the Denmark friendly with a side that could well launch England’s World Cup campaign in June, he will be without at least two players who could be expected to be among his preferred XI.

Kyle Walker is out through injury, the full-back having returned to Tottenham Hotspur with a groin injury, while Leighton Baines will not be involved due to Hodgson wanting to look at both Ashley Cole and Southampton teenager Luke Shaw instead.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With just two left-backs due to be included in Hodgson’s final 23-man squad for Brazil, either Cole or Shaw is likely to drop out so tonight will be a big test for the pair.

The same can be said for England, with Denmark unfortunate to miss out on a place in the play-offs despite finishing as runners-up in their qualifying group behind Italy.

Morten Olsen’s men were the only one of nine second-placed sides not to compete in the play-offs due to possessing the ‘worst’ record despite finishing strongly.

Italy were held 2-2 in Copenhagen before the qualifying campaign ended with a 6-0 drubbing of Malta, with an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Armenia the previous June proving costly.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As for England’s summer plans, Hodgson said: “Looking at the squad, the pool of players seems to me to be getting bigger and the good piece of news is that they are playing and playing well. The bulk of them, anyway.

“We have time (to finalise plans). We are not going to solve that in 90 minutes of a friendly.

“What we want to do is that, when we are naming the team for the Italy match, we will have had a lot of time to contemplate how we want to use our players and what 11 we think is the best 11 to win the game.

“It is a truism – and it bores you hearing it – but it is a fact of life that, as a football coach, what you want to do is assess your players and get the best players on the field in areas where they perform best.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“And that involves tweaking your systems. You don’t have to be hung up on whether it is 4-2-4, 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. Or whether the three are spread out or if it is two behind one. It doesn’t matter such a lot because the game is becoming so fluid.

“Southampton are a good example. I would defy anybody to tell me what position Adam Lallana has taken up and where he is playing. I would defy anyone to tell me where Suarez is playing sometimes (for Liverpool). Only Brendan Rodgers can tell you.”

Hodgson is preparing for his second major tournament as England manager after steering the national side to the quarter-finals of Euro 2012, where they bowed out to Italy on penalties.

He said: “It is enormously different (to two years ago). There is no doubt that two years down the road, two things have happened. First, I know the players better. And, perhaps more importantly, I think that directly after the Euros perhaps we were bemoaning the fact that there weren’t maybe so many young players coming through that excited us and gave us real hope for the future.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Now I think you would agree with me when I say that is not the case today and teams like Southampton and Liverpool have been very good in putting their faith in young players and not being frightened to give the players their chance to show what they can do.

“Luckily, the players have accepted that challenge and, luckily for me, they are English.”