HODGSON CONFIDENT

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England are currently second in the World Cup qualifying group, but the manager Roy Hodgson has said that he is extremely confident that he will be top of the group by the end of the campaign. He has also said that he will settle for nothing less than winning the group. Hodgson said a few weeks ago that he believes that England have the ability to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966. The arrival of new players like Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck has rejuvenated the England team, which has suffered several exits in high-profile competitions at early stages.

England once again showed their renewed confidence in the recent friendly match against Brazil. Despite coming up against the five-time world champions, England played a lot of good football throughout the match. They also managed to win the match 2-1, which was their first victory over Brazil in more than two decades. This run of good results has led to the manager saying that he believes England will be able to win the group comfortably. The World Cup qualifying matches for England will resume with away trips against San Marino and Montenegro in the month of March.

Montenegro have made a great start to the World Cup qualifying campaign.”We are trying to win the group. What I might have said is if we don’t win the group, we will try and win the play-offs. But there is no question of us taking a play-off route. We were the top seeds in the group. We are seeded to win it. It doesn’t always happen of course. All teams like ourselves accept the responsibility and will do our best,” said Hodgson. England, though, have had just two victories in the last five matches in all competitions under Roy Hodgson.

BROWN RETURNS SOON

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The Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill has revealed that he expects the defender Wes Brown to return from injury in the next few weeks. The defender has been out of the first team action for a long time, but he has recently started training with the first-team. The former Manchester United defender has been suffering from the knee injury that has kept him out of action for more than a year. The 33-year-old was amongst the three Manchester United players signed by the former manager Steve Bruce. Due to the poor form experienced by Sunderland, O’Neill could certainly do with the presence of Brown in the back.

O’Neill has now revealed that Brown is close to getting to first-team action after seeing a specialist back in October in a bid to solve his injury problem. Another injury problem for O’Neill has been the fitness of John O’Shea, who has missed the last two matches. He will once again be out of the first team action according to the manager. Chelsea will be the visitors to the Stadium of Light during the weekend. O’Neill could have certainly done with the presence of a player like John O’Shea given his incredible experience, but he will know how to face the European champions without the former Manchester United man.

“Wes is making good progress, although the number of times I’ve said that is unbelievable. He’s not that far away again from getting back into training. He’s had a few setbacks, but he’s working exceptionally hard. It’s been a frustrating time for him and it must get you down when you’re out for that length of time. He’s responding well at this minute, quite well. We were worried about it, but he is getting better by the day,” said Martin O’Neill, whose Sunderland are closer to the relegation zone.