The Three Lions includes new players in their lines, such as Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere, who returned last week from an injury that sidelined him for almost a year, as well as Newcastle United’s forward Andros Townsend.
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The squad that Roy Hodgson has assembeld is no doubt talented and young, whether they could reach the finals is another subject entirely. We’ll see how far that takes us.
“He is one of the contenders, of course”, Hodgson said.
“The manager involves me in a lot of the decisions, there is myself and a team we have put together with a few other senior players”.
Rashford, 18, made his United debut in February and has scored seven goals in 16 appearances in all competitions, including two on his Premier League debut.
Theo Walcott was a regular in the England team which went through the qualification phase unbeaten, and will now also miss out having endured a lacklustre six-months of football.
That may well be where he is favoured by many to play for England over the summer, giving licence to Kane and Vardy – who notched 49 Barclays Premier League goals between them this season – to start in attack.
Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson, who returned from five weeks out with a knee injury on Sunday, is one of 11 midfielders in the squad, although he must prove his fitness.
Hodgson said Rooney would have no say in the final 23.
“There are three games to play [Turkey, Australia and Portugal] and everyone needs to stay fit and I need to keep my fitness, and hopefully I’ll be there at the end”. “He’s not demanding that he plays in this position in the opening game, and I’m under no pressure whatsoever to select him in the opening game unless I feel he’s the best man for the job”.
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Cahill, vice-captain to Wayne Rooney, is expected to start with Chris Smalling when England begin the tournament against Russian Federation in Marseille on June 11, with John Stones or defensive midfielder Eric Dier the other options to cover at centre-back. Fabian Delph, Andros Townsend and Jack Wilshere were all surprise selections in England’s provisional squad.
