“I am confident that I won’t have a situation where I have got the dilemma, if you like, of May 12th arriving and him still really not being 100 per cent fit, but he could make it if we take him to the tournament”.
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I’m quite sure he meant what he said.
Questions have been raised in the media over whether the 30-year-old Manchester United forward will be fit by the time Hodgson names his provisional squad on May 12 but the manager played down fears his captain could miss the tournament. “Does he [Rooney] have a good chance with his track record, ability and experience?” But he’s our captain and has been very important in that job in the last few years, and we will need his influence and ability on the field. Wayne has come in for a bit of criticism, but he has played over a hundred times for his country, he’s their record goal-scorer, and look at his record at United. Wayne Rooney realises that. “I think the player deserves the opportunity, if he is fully fit, to be given a chance of being selected“.
Rooney has more caps and goals, 109 and 51, than the five forwards selected by Hodgson for these fixtures put together and it is a measure of his standing within the squad that he will visit the squad at St George’s Park next week and attend the second fixture, against Holland, on 29 March.
“He’s coming to see us”, Hodgson said.
“Luke Shaw is a player we believe in”, said Hodgson.
“Now, we’ve had to say goodbye to him for a long time through injury, but you can’t blame me for wanting to welcome him back into the fold if he’s fit and if he’s Jack Wilshere because that Jack Wilshere we saw was our man of the match on so many occasions”.
Hodgson added that he would be “disappointed” if United do not play Shaw before the end of the season, but admits that decision is “in the hands of the club”.
Coleman will use the upcoming friendlies – which include facing Ukraine in Kiev next Monday – to run the rule over fringe players who could force their way into his plans, and he said: “I know now my squad”. “He’ll be playing a game”.
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“I do contradict myself at times – anyone who speaks as much as I do will contradict themselves – but in an ideal world I would only take players, really, who were at least mechanically fit and able to play”.
