On numerous occasions during the recent campaign, Rooney has dropped from his forward role into midfield, and could do the same for England at Euro 2016.
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The Duke, who is marking his tenth year as FA President, will be attending England’s final Group B match against Slovakia in Saint-Étienne on Monday 20 June at 8pm.
England have a habit of getting into a shamble when it comes to big tournaments and secretly many English fans are a little bit anxious about this.
“I feel happy with it”, he said of his starting lineup, which will be revealed to the players on Saturday morning. I’ve been around the players the last few weeks and you can see the desire and ambition. It’s not an advantage per se, but having said that I think the lack of experience in the team is counter-acted in some way by youth, energy, enthusiasm and a group of players keen to do well.
There may be comfort and confidence in the side, but Hodgson knows there are always aspects of the game to improve at worldwide level.
Russian Federation is looking to make up for what seems to be one blunder after another on the worldwide stage. “We know the England team; maybe they don’t know us”, he said. “We have some problems but you will see”.
“We try to encourage them to believe in themselves, go out and play the football we’ve been trying to play, and we’ll see what it brings”.
Slutsky is likely to adopt defensive tactics for the game against England on Saturday, so Hodgson’s wingers would have to spread the play as much as possible in order to create more room for the striker and midfielders.
The Duke of Cambridge and Prime Minister David Cameron have been among the well-wishers ahead of England’s Group B opener, although the coaching staff are working hard to relieve the tension such attention can breed.
Captain Rooney especially has a point to prove in France after failing to live up to expectations at every major global tournament he has played in since lighting up Euro 2004. Even though I’m going to miss most of the games in the first ten days due to being away, I still can’t wait. “That’s the thing that is on the end of my tongue all the time I speak about the team at the moment, you don’t know where they are”.
That can not be entirely true given the temper that impacted his early career, such as the red card against Portugal in the 2006 World Cup quarterfinals.
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Dele Alli has proved similarly temperamental during his breakthrough season at Tottenham, but Hodgson has no concerns over him ahead of the clash with Russian Federation. I think this team is well balanced and, providing Roy keeps the two strikers central, it could do a lot of damage.
