Roy Hodgson‘s Three Lions have moved another step closer to this summer’s European Championships. Their latest result was a 2-1 victory over Australia Friday evening in Sunderland.
All eyes were on 18-year-old Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford, who definitely didn’t disappoint in his debut. The youngster was cool, calm and collected and it didn’t seem like the gravity of the occasion frazzled him in the slightest. Rashford took only 3 minutes to open his account.
His bright performance now gives Roy a serious decision to make.
Could he possibly bring along 5 strikers to France?
Daniel Sturridge has a calf issue that needs addressing and the Liverpool man has only a couple days of training left to prove himself fit in England’s final prep on Thursday against Portugal at Wembley. After scoring that world class goal in the Europa League final last Wednesday, Sturridge had to think that he was a shoe-in for Roy’s 23 man squad, but his injury bug has bit him once again.
Wayne Rooney is a player that knows that he’ll be in the plans of the England manager.
The England captain started the game on the bench and was brought on as a substitute during half time. He silenced some of his doubters by applying a fine finish to a flowing counterattack as he collected Raheem Sterling’s low pass before hammering a right footed shot into the roof of the net past Maty Ryan.
This leaves another interesting question. Where does Roy Hodgson play Wayne Rooney? Does he get into the starting 11?
Louis Van Gaal even had Rooney playing a bit deeper in a Paul Scholes like role in midfield.
In defense we saw Ryan Bertrand with a steady performance.
John Stones looked a whole lot stronger at center back alongside Chris Smalling.
That must make England fans feel good after Stones’ woeful outings that he had for Everton at the end of the Premier League season. Going into a big international tournament Hodgson needs a ball playing center back who is comfortable bringing the ball out into midfield and dictating play.
Players like John Terry and Rio Ferdinand come to mind regarding young Stones, and those are massive shoes to fill.
Hodgson took a risk in picking only 3 natural center backs in his preliminary squad. He has Eric Dier, a player who is comfortable both in the back and as a holding midfielder in the base of a diamond formation.
He was brought on as a substitute, in order to acclimate himself again with the position. It turned into a disaster as Dier struggled to deal with Degenek’s cross from the right and seemed indecisive to go with his boot or his head. He opted to head the ball clear, but could only divert it through the legs of Frazier Foster.
In the end England came up victorious.
A few players on the squad now face a anxious wait on Tuesday to find out which three will be dropped, as the roster gets reduced to 23 players for the Euros.
Even though there have been some positives like the fitness of Jack Wilshere, the instant impact off the bench from Andros Townsend, and the shining light of Marcus Rashford, there’s also cause for concern.
Ross Barkley looks a shadow of the player he once was when he first burst out onto the scene two years ago.
Delle Alli’s exuberance and high level play could make it easy for Barkley to be left at home. Nobody knows what formation will be best suited to get the most out of Jamie Vardy. All we know for sure is that Roy Hodgson should try and put his best 11 out to start against Portugal and give them at least a hour in his preferred formation to gel.
Maybe by then England fans will have more answers to their questions.