After weeks of build-up and
preparation, the Three Lions are at last in Brazil and just four days away from
kicking off their campaign in Manaus, a thousand miles up the River
Amazon.
Four-time world champions Italy are the opponents in the Group D
opener at the Arena Amazonia, just as they were in England's last match at a
major international tournament two years ago.
Then, the Azzurri triumphed
on penalties, knocking Hodgson's side out at the quarter-final juncture of Euro
2012 after an uninspiring 0-0 draw
Nike Mercurial Veloce AG in Kiev.
This, though, is a much
more exciting unit and one which the England manager believes is far better
placed to succeed - albeit he wants the highly-rated young players to be looked
at with more hope than expectation.
"I think it's very exciting," Hodgson
said. "We have a lot of potential, we have a lot of
Nike Mercurial Vapor X FG excitement, a lot belief in this
potential.
"But I must advise some kind of caution because, as you know,
the players haven't had much chance in an England shirt to show that potential
can be realised.
"I personally think it will be but, before we build
people up too much and say how wonderful these young players are, let's see some
very good performances in an England shirt first.
"We know they can do
it, we believe they can do it, but let's just calm ourselves down a little bit
before we start saying that we have world-beaters in our squad.
"To be a
world-beater, you've got to put your international shirt on and play very
well.
"I think we have more options [than at Euro 2012]. I think we
certainly have more athleticism, we have more pace, more mobility. We have a lot
of technical players.
"I certainly am not trying in any way to play down
the fact the future looks quite bright and there are some very, very interesting
times ahead for us, I'm sure."
The likes of Raheem Sterling and Ross
Barkley have particularly impressed onlookers and Hodgson may well be tempted to
throw them in from the start against Italy.
That would certainly be a
bold move from the England boss, who was giving little away other than injury
updates at the first press conference at their Urca training
base.
Hodgson confirmed that, as things stand, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is
likely to be the only absentee against the Azzurri, although he expects the
midfielder to recover from a medial ligament issue in time to feature against
Uruguay.
The other player whose fitness was questioned was captain Steven
Gerrard after he dipped out of training early on Monday with an apparent slight
groin injury - news that perplexed the England boss.
"Well, I don't
really understand the Steven Gerrard one," Hodgson said.
"Yesterday we
did a training session when the players that played [against Honduras] did a
warm-down session and I worked with the nine that didn't take full part in the
game.
"My understanding is that they actually did some extra work at the
end of
nike hypervenom phantom ag the training session so there is
absolutely nothing wrong with him, so I don't really understand that story at
all."
The Gerrard issue was one of just a handful questions that Hodgson
did not play with a straight bat.
The one that really got his goat was
the first from the Brazilian media, with a journalist suggesting England had
complained a lot about the World Cup being in the country and, in particular,
the fact they had to head to Manaus.
"It is not true that we complained
about Manaus and Brazil," Hodgson snapped. "Quite the opposite. I think that
nonsense should be put to bed straight away.
"I am more than happy to be
here now for a second time at a World Cup [having coached Switzerland in 1994],
this time the manager of my birthright as a national team.
"We are very,
very much looking forward to playing in the World Cup and we will be perfectly
happy to play in any city we are given because what we want to do is play here
and play against the teams we were drawn
against." |
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