England now have a team of 'game-changers' - Hart

LONDON (Reuters) - England goalkeeper Joe Hart believes England now have a squad of "game-changers" and will qualify for next year's European Championship in France playing exciting football.

England now have a team of 'game-changers' - Hart

(Reuters)





Hart will be in goal when England face Slovenia away on Sunday as they look to maintain their 100 percent record in qualifying Group E, having won five out of five so far.

While Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck have scored the bulk of England's goals in the qualifying campaign, Hart believes the likes of Everton's Ross Barkley, Aston Villa's Fabian Delph and Liverpool's Raheem Sterling offer plenty of variety.

"We have got some young, kind of fearless players," Hart said at a news conference at England's training base.

"We're at that amazing stage where we put 11 players on the pitch but the 13 or 14 players (that don't start) can come on and change it, they are not lesser players, they are not being brought on for any other reason.

"We have a squad of 23 of equal players and it's a real tough 11 to get into. When we are making changes, we have game changers in the team. As a back four or five we are knocking it down to let the boys express themselves."

England lead the group with 15 points from five games, with Slovenia and Switzerland both on nine.

Victory would leave England within touching distance of qualification but Hart is not getting carried away.

"We have won all our games so far but we have some tough games to come and Slovenia is definitely a tough game, they are one of the teams that could catch us in the group," he said.

"We've made as much progress as is possible. The nature of qualifying is that it's not to the level of the group stages of a World Cup but we've done the minimum.

"We've made strides, we're building a team and ethos and hopefully we can get as many qualifying wins to get to France as soon as possible."





(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Toby Davis)


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