England 2-1 Hungary – Steven Gerrard scores both goals
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HODGSON BACKS STURRIDGE
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
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.
CAHILL IMPRESSES
Gary Cahill moved from Bolton to Chelsea in a £ 7 million deal a few years ago. He managed to win the Champions league – the ultimate prize for European clubs – within six months of moving to his new club. He followed that by winning the Europa league last season. Despite the trophy laden spell, the Premier league has been missing for Cahill, and the England national hopes to complete the collection by winning it this year. Cahill also won the FA Cup in 2012. He has managed to form a great partnership with John Terry at the back this season.
Mourinho has largely preferred to use David Luiz the middle of the park rather than at central defence. The error prone Portuguese defender has excelled in this position and it could be his future position at the club. Cahill was not used to winning trophies during his previous clubs like Bolton and Aston Villa. Now that he has become a winner, the 28-year-old says that he wants to continue with the Premier league trophy this season. Chelsea are in with a great shout to win the title, as they are just two points behind the leaders Arsenal.
However, the blues also have to contend with the challenge from Manchester City, who Chelsea manager José Mourinho thinks have the best squad in the division.
“It’s one of the biggest trophies you can win and I’m sure the lads who have won it before would say the same thing. They’re just as hungry as me to do it again. As I’ve never won it, it would be a great achievement in my career and one I’m striving to do. We have confidence whenever we play at home, which we should have, and always manage to get results here,” said Cahill after the 3-1 win over United.
Joe Hart England Press Conference | 07/06/12 | Euro 2012
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watch soccer euro 2012 Italy vs England football live online
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ENGLAND SETBACK
England recently suffered their first back-to-back defeats at Wembley for the first time since 1977. This has induced some panic amongst the fans ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. England qualified for this tournament in stunning fashion after managing to win their group. They were also looking extremely good in the last few matches, but the latest defeats against Chile and Germany have brought them back to earth. The first friendly against Chile ended in a 2-0 loss, while Germany were able to go home with a 1-0 win.
In both these matches, England looked fragile in defence and this is a major worry for Roy Hodgson ahead of the World Cup. The former Liverpool manager, though, has asked for patience from the fans. He has said that there is nothing to worry about despite these defeats. England are missing a number of first-team regulars like Theo Walcott, but they are unlikely to have made a difference in the back of the field. England have only one more friendly match remaining – against Denmark in March 2014 – before they go into the World Cup.
“There’s certainly no question of panic. If anything I’m much wiser, with regard to the players I’ve got at my disposition and what we need to work on going into a tournament. I’m not prepared to accept that two friendly defeats in which I have used a lot of players in two tough games is going to take the shine off what has been a very good year,” said Hodgson.
Due to the form in recent tournaments, they are rank outsiders to win the World Cup. Hodgson, though, has been upbeat about their chances of victory.
Some of the positives from these two matches include debuts for the likes of Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster and Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez.
PMQs: Cameron on England football team World Cup qualification
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