Roy Hodgson will take a 19 man England squad to Brazil without a match fit striker.
Daniel Sturridge was substituted during the first half of last night’s 1-1 draw with Ireland and will miss the trip to Brazil as he has his ankle inspected for possible ligament damage.
Danny Wellbeck and Jermaine de Foe are both carrying knocks but despite having an in-form Champions League scorer like Gary Hooper ready to travel Hodgson will arrive in Rio with his walking wounded.
“We’ve got to hope that Welbeck will recover and Defoe will get fitter in the coming days,” Hodgson explained. “It will be difficult to get someone in now so we will bite the bullet and accept that we are short up front and look at other options.”
On Sturridge’s injury Hodgson explained: “He had a good start and we were sad to lose him. He hadn’t played for a while and was carrying a slight injury. I fear it will keep him out for a few weeks.”
Hooper ended his domestic season with a brilliantly executed double against Hibs taking his tally for the season to 31.
While most Premiership strikers have been on holiday for at least a fortnight the Celtic man is coming off the high of a domestic double and Champions League campaign.
Despite those impressive credentials Hodgson will stick with the tried and tested even though they are less than 100% fit rather than call in Hooper to get a close up look in training.
Last night’s draw with Ireland was met with heavy criticism for the England boss with Gary Lineker describing the performance as a return to the dark ages.
“Brazil will thrash us if we line up the same way,” the Match of the Day host said. “Even though results haven’t been great, I felt tactically England were maturing, but this is a step back to the dark ages of two lines of four.
“Don’t like England playing this system. So easy to play against. Predictable and dated.
“It’s not about playing in straight lines, it’s about playing between the lines. Depth gives flexibility, passing alternatives, creativity.”
The simple truth is that Hooper has no chance with England for as long as he remains in Scotland, even with Celtic.
Same as big Fraser.
Your right, but it’s only because the English are blinded by their own ridiculous arrogance and unwarranted sense of superiority. It’s their loss.
Hodgson is a pathetic sh!t3 bag who couldn’t pick his nose!! He’s picks the peoples team like the rest of the England managers before him and will ultimately suffer the same fate!
Eventually in the the knock out stages (if they make it) they will be convincingly defeated by a superior team. The sooner the English realise the EPL is all money and full of pre-madonna’s like the QPR squad, and that the foreigners make the league good, the better.
England is full of “my ball”…”i’ll take it” wannabe’s that can hardly string 2 passes together, from what I see in Internationals.
Over-rated, over paid and basically “full of it!”
Hooper was the highest English Goal scorer in the UCL last season…and for Forster to not even make the squad is an absolute outrage.
Anyone who plays for Celtic will always play at international level and do well – except England?
Sums they f**kers up if you ask me!!
HH 1NL YNWA
100% spot on
I’ll eat my hat if we’ve still got Gary and big Fraser at the beginning of August. Both are more than capable of playing in the Premiership, but our loss would surely be softened by the realistic combined transfer fees of around £12m we should get for them.
The England team has never been picked by the manager!
Look at how poor they have been at major tournaments (remember them) and as a consequence they change the manager but the same players always remain. Until they change they will always be losers……..Naw change that, they will always be losers!
If I’m honest it doesn’t bother me if our players play international football. We need all our players well rested for the Euro challenge ahead.
This has just proven that Hooper will never play for England as long as he is playing in Scotland, it is sad really
Was at the game yesterday and Rooney, Sturridge and Defoe all struggled against a pretty slow and static Ireland defense.
Why should we worry about who plays for England. The less Celtic’s men play in Internationals the better for the club. The break is short enough. If Hooper and Foster stay at Celtic they will be playing in the Champions League in about 3 weeks. They need a holiday.