The England national team manager Roy Hodgson has said that he would be happy even if the England national team made it to the 2014 World Cup only in the play-offs. England are one of the favourites to qualify for the competition from the group stages after they have made a good start to the qualification campaign, but the presence of several high-profile teams like Belgium and Ukraine mean that qualification is not guaranteed for the team. Further, they are already in the second place behind Montenegro, who currently at the table by four points ahead of England.

Roy Hodgson’s men recently suffered draws against Ukraine and Poland, which have meant that we have not been able to occupy the top spot going into the new year. England were also recently defeated 4-2 by the spectacular Swedish team. Hodgson has said that the most important thing is to play in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and it does not matter whether the team qualifies through the play-offs or directly from the group stages. England lost failed to qualify for a major tournament back in 2008 when they did not appear for the Euro 2008. Hodgson has suggested that the current crop of England players do not need any additional motivation apart from the prospect of playing in the World Cup.

“If we don’t succeed in being No1, I’d be more than happy to go into the play-offs. The important thing is we get one of those two positions. The group we are in was quite underestimated but that is often the case. I can assure the England football fans there is nothing the players want more. They don’t need motivation, they need to perform,” said Hodgson. England will be playing against the world cup host Brazil in a friendly match in February.

The England manager Roy Hodgson has said that he has called up a number of young players for the friendly match against Sweden in the hope that they will be able to outperform the older players and qualify for the 2014 World Cup in style. England will be playing against Sweden in a friendly match, and the England manager has decided to omit a number of high-profile first-team players partly because of injuries. The Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and the Arsenal midfielder Theo Walcott will be amongst the high-profile names absent from the squad. In their place, Roy Hodgson has included the three young strikers in the form of Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck, and Zaha.

This is the first time that the Crystal Palace winger Zaha has been included in the squad. Many have been raising eyebrows, but it is due to the excellent performances shown by the 20-year-old in the Championship according to the England manager. He has said that it is highly unlikely that a number of players like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard will be at the peak of their careers when the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicks off. Hence, he has challenged the likes of Zaha to replace these players.

“There’s no doubt we’re going to see a vast improvement over the coming ten years, and I think you see it already if you look at the young players that are coming through today. Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Cleverley, Bertrand, Gibbs, Wilshere – in all of these players you can see that technically they are of a very good level. It can only get better,” said the England manager ahead of the friendly match with Sweden. England have made a great start to the World Cup qualifying campaign and they are undefeated in the matches played so far.