England manager Roy Hodgson has named his team to begin England’s campaign to make it to the World Cup in Rio 2014.
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Hodgson has proved himself as manager after his appointment just weeks before the European Championships, by going unbeaten until the quarter finals where they lost on penalties to Italy.
Spain won that competition and made it two football trophies from the last two tournaments, weighing the players down with enough football medals to sink the Titanic.
Nothing new there then. But there’s lots of new in Hodgson’s side for the 2014 qualifyers.
There’s a clear focus on the youth, something which will turn itself into experience the longer players get to wear the England football kit.
There’s debut games for Blackpool defender Thomas Ince, son of England star Pal Ince, and Leicester’s defender Ben Marshall. The decision to include these two is a good omen for any younger players who haven’t yet made it to the Premier League, showing that Hodgson is not afraid to bypass the more popular choices to sacrifice talent.
The influence of the England U21 games and the Olympics has not been missed, with Jack Butland, Liverpool’s duo Martin Kelly and Jordan Henderson, as well as Spurs’s Danny Rose set to make an appearance.
The switch to youth may have been somewhat forced though, with Rooney and Terry most likely out, along with Gareth Barry which seems to have caused Hodgson to aim for youth rather than experience.
The England team kick their first footballs of the qualifying campaign against Moldova on 7 September in Chisinau, followed by a return home to face Ukraine at Wembley on 11 September.
Ukraine tested England at times in the Euros, so it wil be down to Hodgson’s young men to prove that they truly are the next generation of English footballing stars by defeating them both in play and by a good football goals margin.
