Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
It’s the second of England’s three match mini tour in preparation for next month’s European Championship and Tonight Roy Hodgson’s side go to the Stadium Of Light as they play hosts to Australia.
It’s been quite a busy few days on the injury table for Hodgson with Daniel Sturridge set to miss out after picking up an injury and Fabian Delph has picked up a groin strain which will see him miss the whole tournament
For Sturridge there is still time to regain fitness but even if he does shake of an injury he may fall down the pecking order due to the fact that Marcus Rashford is now well and truly in the frame for a space in the final 23 which is to be named on May 31st
18 year old Rashford is set to make his England debut Tonight with Manager Hodgson saying that he will play a significant part in the game, while his club teammate and record England Goalscorer Wayne Rooney will feature from the bench.
With Sturridge not featuring on Sunday and missing out Tonight through injury time is running out for him to impress and more importantly show his match fitness. Has Sturridge got enough credit in the bank to secure a seat on the plane
Roy Hodgson is able to welcome players from Manchester United and Liverpool after their cup final exploits of last week so expect Chris Smalling to slot in at Centre Back and Nathaniel Clyne to replace Kyle Walker at Right Back
Fraser Forster gets the opportunity to solidify his backup status to Joe Hart with a start Tonight. It’s a deserved call up for Forster’s who solid form for Southampton in the second half of the season has earned the club a second consecutive campaign in the Europa League
Jamie Vardy is not featuring due to the fact he has been allowed time off for his wedding. So we could be looking at a partnership of Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane which is a very exciting prospect. Kane scored on Sunday but also missed a Penalty so will no doubt be looking to atone for that error by running the Australian Defence ragged
Australia shouldn’t cause us too many problems Tonight but we assumed that back in 2003 and we ended up losing 3-1 at Upton Park so they shouldn’t be taken for granted. That said I can’t see anything other than an England win this Evening.
