If they are without Martial, United will hope that Rooney has rediscovered his goalscoring touch, as the England man has been in dire form in front of goal for his club this season, while Martial has netted five times this term.
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Midfielder Michael Carrick and forward Anthony Martial suffered respective ankle and foot injuries while playing for England and France over the past week.
“I will try to ring him”.
A 2-0 defeat to Spain should not be regarded as a catastrophe, particularly when he was shorn of so many players, and even though France were understandably not fully focused on the task in hand at Wembley after the Paris terror attacks, the way in which England applied themselves against such a strong team should be commended.
And he dispossessed Paul Pogba to set up the move that led to Rooney’s strike in the second half.
Much has been written about the paucity of home-grown talent in the English game, but Rooney believes there is a group of exciting players coming through the ranks now who can become England stars.
“That is what I have been saying throughout the last 18 months”, he said. “We have to get better, of course, but we are showing good signs and if we can keep improving, it is exciting for us”.
“(FA chief executive) Martin Glenn has had a meeting with the people at the Premier League but it was more the executives”, Hodgson said when asked about the winter get together.
“You can never doubt his professionalism, his desire to do the right thing for England and his ability and capacity to sacrifice himself for the team”. “For ourselves to be involved in this occasion was tough, the young players were excited but it was a hard game for them”.
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The 19-year-old striker was left in pain following a tackle from Tottenham’s Dele Alli and had to be substituted after 67 minutes.
