The Football Association is expecting the entire squad to be fit for England’s Group B opener against Russian Federation on June 11, even if tomorrow’s final warm-up match against Portugal comes too soon.
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The Three Lions have not impressed at major competitions in recent years, but this will be Stones’ first foray into worldwide tournament football and he is brimming with confidence after being named in Roy Hodgson’s 23-man squad on Tuesday.
That was cut to 25 when Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph was moved to the standby list after picking up an injury.
While Hodgson has an array of forwards to choose from, he only has three recognised centre-backs and one genuine holding midfielder in his squad for the tournament in France. That display ratcheted up the pressure on Daniel Sturridge, but he too got the nod despite being the only member of the squad not to appear in either of the preparation matches. Congrats go to ex-United player Tom Heaton, however; England can’t have taken that many Burnley players to major tournaments.
In that time he has scored on his United debut, his Premier League debut and senior England debut, as well as bagging a goal in his first Manchester derby.
Jordan Henderson and Jack Wilshere were injury worries when the provisional squad was picked, but they both have come through training and the two friendlies unscathed. Good luck to the lads…
“I don’t understand why we always have to talk about Ronaldo”, said Santos, whose side will face Iceland, Austria and Hungary in Group F at Euro 2016.
Of the other forwards, Harry Kane is 1-16 to start the game, while Daniel Sturridge – once mooted a possible casualty of Rashford’s rise to prominence – is an 11-2 chance.
November 21: Rashford is named on the first-team bench for United’s trip to Watford.
Hodgson was keen to see how Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson fared on their return from injury, with the midfielders playing a part in both the Turkey and Australia friendlies.
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England play Portugal at Wembley on Thursday in their final warm-up game before heading to their French training base in Chantilly.
