England's Hodgson gets World Cup boost

England coach Roy Hodgson feels he could be spoilt for choice with player talent out wide for the World Cup in Brazil.

England manager Roy Hodgson feels Raheem Sterling's sparkling form and Wilfried Zaha's re-emergence could leave him spoilt for choice in wide areas at the World Cup.

Sterling, 19, has been scintillating for Liverpool recently, scoring twice in the 5-1 demolition of Arsenal last weekend that relaunched his side's Premier League title challenge.

Zaha is enjoying first-team action after joining Cardiff City on loan from Manchester United last month.

Sterling debuted for England in a 4-2 friendly defeat away to Sweden in 2012, but he vanished in the second half of 2012-13 as Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers elected to rest him.

The move has paid off spectacularly this season and Hodgson has been delighted by Sterling's return to form.

"It's a re-emergence in a way, because when we opened the stadium in Stockholm (against Sweden), he'd burst into the Liverpool team then and was doing fantastically well.

"And then he lost his place for a while, almost disappeared off the scene, so he wasn't on the radar to quite the same extent.

"Since he's got back in the Liverpool team, his form seems to be going up and up and up. What it means is, we do have competition in the wide areas.

"People like him emerging and doing as well as he is in a top, top team just puts a lot of pressure on everybody else, really.

"Because if you can do it at the top of the table at Liverpool, then you can do it in an England shirt as well."

Zaha tasted international football in the same game as Sterling, but made only two league appearances for United this season following an off-season switch from Crystal Palace.

His move to Cardiff has given him a second chance and he has started in three consecutive games.

Hodgson has been enthused by the 21-year-old, and cites 19-year-old Norwich winger Nathan Redmond as further cause for optimism about England's flank options.

"Redmond is back in at Norwich, doing very, very well. (Alex) Oxlade-Chamberlain coming back, Aaron Lennon still there, so we're not short of candidates.

"It's going to be a choice at the end of the day: how many of that type of player do I want to include in the squad? It's very good for me, I think."

Hodgson, who also namechecked Sunderland winger Adam Johnson, will reveal his next squad on February 27, ahead of a friendly against Denmark at Wembley the following week.

England are in Group D at the World Cup with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica.


3 min read

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Updated

Source: AAP


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