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Hodgson Happy With Friendly Performance

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England manager Roy Hodgson has stated that he is extremely happy with the performances of his place in the recent friendly match against Peru. A couple of players like Phil Jones had to be withdrawn from the matchday squad, but they are expected to be part of the squad that flies to World Cup 2014. The Manchester United defender suffered a slight injury, but Hodgson’s assumption is that the problem will not be serious. Another player suffering from a problem is Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who felt a slight strain in his calf.

On the pitch, it was more positive news for the national team as they managed a 3-0 win over Peru. After the back-to-back defeats against Chile and Germany in a couple of friendlies back in November, England have returned to form with two consecutive wins over Denmark and Peru. They have also not conceded any goals in the last two matches, which will be a positive feeling for the national team. Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge opened the scoring for England at the new Wembley in the 32nd minute. Chelsea defender Gary Cahill and Everton defender Phil Jagielka scored between five minutes of each other to give England a resounding win in the second half.

“They could have played tonight but we thought it would be better for them to do an extra day’s training. The most important thing for us was to come through it unscathed, injury-wise. It was a wonderful send-off to the World Cup by a quite incredible crowd. We had to be patient but we were dominant throughout. It is the perfect end to a perfect two weeks,” said Hodgson after the win over Peru. The team will be taking on Ecuador and Honduras in the final two friendly matches before the tournament opening match against Italy.

Hodgson Leaves Out Experienced Players

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England manager Roy Hodgson is widely expected to leave out Ashley Cole from England’s squad. The Chelsea defender also announced his retirement from international football after the final Premier league game of the season. England will be taking on the likes of Italy and Uruguay in the group stages of the World Cup 2014. Despite the proposed tough group matches, Hodgson is expected to take a young squad with him. A number of players like Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw are expected to be included in the squad. These players have little international – let alone major tournament – experience.

Cole, on the other hand, is one of the most experienced players at international level after having amassed more than 100 caps for the national team. He is the record appearance holder for a left back, while many think that he is the world’s best in this position right now. The 33-year-old, though, has featured very rarely in the second half of the season for Chelsea. Injuries and suspensions, though, have meant that he has been playing regularly of late. Still, his future has been up in the air for some time since his contract with Chelsea comes to an end in the summer.

He is expected to leave the club in the summer and was seen in tears after the Norwich match.

“Among many difficult decisions I’ve had to make for my squad, not selecting Ashley was one of the hardest. To amass over a century of caps is a truly staggering achievement and he deserves enormous credit for the desire and brilliance which has shone through over the years he has represented his country. There are few players who can be considered among the very best in the world, but Ashley in his prime was the best left-back without question,” said Hodgson.

WILL BARKLEY GO?

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There have been several suggestions that England manager Roy Hodgson would consider taking Everton midfielder Ross Barkley, who is having a tremendous campaign with the blues, for the World Cup 2014. However, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has ruled out a warning for Hodgson says that there is little substitute for experience and that the former Liverpool manager should stick with taking the experienced campaigners for this World Cup. He says that Barkley should be given opportunity to impress in the qualification rounds before being taken for the grand stage.

Wenger has himself seen the negative experiences of taking a player to sound. This happened with his first start Theo Walcott who went to the World Cup 2006 as a teenager. Even though he never played in the tournament, Walcott has never been able to fulfil his potential since then. Wenger says that the pressure of a World Cup is too huge for young shoulders to handle. The 20-year-old Barkley will be one of the players to watch when Arsenal visit Goodison Park for a crunch match this weekend.

Everton could get a significant advantage in the top spot race with a win over the gunners, who are just a couple of points ahead.

“For me Barkley has a big impact this season. He is one of the top young English players I have seen in my time here, it is difficult to rank him but he is one of the best I have seen. He has made a big step forward because he has gone from being a young hope to convincing everybody that he has huge potential and talent and that he can have a huge impact on big games. It is good that he is not guaranteed a World Cup place,” said Wenger, whose team defeated Everton earlier in the campaign.

HODGSON BACKS STURRIDGE

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Roy Hodgson has stated that he expects Daniel Sturridge to be a decisive player for England over the next few years because the Liverpool striker has the talent to succeed at international level. After a few years at several clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea, Sturridge finally seems to have come of age since joining Liverpool. He has scored almost one goal game in this Premier league season and it has prompted Hodgson to include him for the final friendly match against Denmark on Wednesday. The 24-year-old repaid the manager’s faith by scoring a late goal to give England the victory.

After the match, Hodgson said that Sturridge has no reason to think why he can reach 50 caps for England and when he does so, he should think about 100 caps for the national team. The former Liverpool manager believes that the striker has what it takes to succeed at international level as well. He has had an enormous partnership with Luis Suarez at Liverpool, but against Denmark, he showed that he is good enough to score goals when he is playing without the Uruguayan alongside him. Sturridge is almost certain to be on the plane for Brazil 2014. He could be joined by several other Liverpool players as well.

“He should be looking at 50 caps and, when he has his 50, look at 100 because he’s got the talent. He’s hardly played for England. We’ve been very unlucky with Daniel. Since he’s gone to Liverpool, he’s done very, very well. But quite often, when we’ve had matches, we’ve been unlucky he’s not been available through injury. In my 25 games Daniel hasn’t featured anywhere near as often as I would like. Now, I’m hoping, in the next 25 he’s going to feature a lot,” said Hodgson about the future of Sturridge at international level.

SHOOTOUT LUCK

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England has only won 1 penalty shootout since 1990 and that was back in 1996 when England played against Spain in the quarter-finals of the Euro of that year. That would be the last time that the Englishmen managed on claiming a victory.

From there on out, England has been eliminated from 6 major tournaments all of which were during penalty kicks with one of their most recent one being their match against Italy at the 2012 Euro and Hodgson wants this outcome to never repeats itself which is why the head coach of England will be taking a sport psychologist to Brazil.

Dave Reddin is a former World Cup winning rugby union coach and Hodgson is hoping that he can tap into the expertise in sport psychology in order to avoid any further negative results specifically during any possible penalty shootouts that may occur during the 2014 World Cup.

“I think there’s another possibility, we should be encouraging players to know their penalty, to practice that penalty. When you practice penalties within your group the goalkeeper knows the players, so maybe we won’t do it with a goalkeeper’’.

“Maybe we’ll have target area No1 and target area No2 and we’ll insist the player hits those targets. There are a lot of things that can be done but the bottom line is always going to be there’ll be players who are less confident than others’’.

“It’s a matter of how we assure ourselves that when those players go up they are as well prepared as they can be. In the final analysis it will be their character, their confidence and their ability to block out tomorrow morning’s headlines.” Hodgson said.

Hodgson will be revealing the list of players that will not be travelling with him to Brazil after he takes all of the necessary preparations with his team and conclude their upcoming friendly match against Denmark.