Does injury to Sturridge give Rashford a seat on the plane?

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It wouldn’t be a major tournament without the usual injury scare for England and this time it’s Daniel Sturridge who is hit by the on going curse.

The Liverpool Forward was injured in training yesterday in preparation for Friday’s Friendly against Australia and now Roy Hodgson will be sweating on his fitness before having to decide on his final 23 at the end of the month

It’s the latest in a succession of injuries for Sturridge who season has been blighted by knocks and niggles to the point where at one point it seemed as if his relationship with Jurgen Klopp was set to break down

It seems as if though that has been restored now what with Sturridge featuring towards the end of the season in key games notably the Europa League Final in which Sturridge and Liverpool ended up on the losing side

Some may question whether Sturridge would have made the final 23 due to his stop start season. His cause was certainly helped thanks to the injury to Danny Welbeck but it’s still not a guarantee by any means

The injury yesterday won’t have aided him and it could very well open the door to Marcus Radford who could end a sensational end to the season with a coveted seat on the plane for the short trip to France

You would have to imagine that Hodgson will be going with 4 strikers at least and with an injury to Sturridge then the United starlet Rashford will be in the squad by default

But that’s not to take anything anyway from the 18 year old Rashford. Whether he makes the squad or not and regardless if injuries may have helped that decision he would still be in the squad on merit

It’s been a whirlwind 3 months for Rashford. Blooded in the Europa League in which he scored a brace on his debut he then followed that up with a brave against Arsenal just three days later. Add a Manchester Derby winner to that and a handful of other goals and you can understand why there is quite a buzz regarding Rashford

It may have raised some eyebrows when he was named in the provisional 26 man squad with many if not all thinking that this tournament will have come around too soon and he will be here for the experience of the Senior setup

But could Hodgson now be looking to bring Rashford along for the tournament proper. If he does then the comparisons will be made to Theo Walcott in 2006 but one would hope the comparisons stop there and if Rashford does go then he actually gets some game time

It also says a lot that Rashford has moved above Walcott in the England pecking order. God forbid there is another forward injury as then we would be down to the case of curtailing someone’s Summer plans

Not that a player would bemoan missing out on a trip to Vehicle if it meant representing England. The only viable options would then be Theo Walcott or Andy Carroll

That in itself is a dilemma, as two different Footballers as you could imagine. What would you opt for height or pace. Well let’s hope that Hodgson doesn’t have to make that decision as it will mean we’ve lost another striker to injury

For now it seems as if the last seat on the plane is going to be a contest between Sturridge’s injury doubts and Radford’s youthful exuberance. I certainly know which one I would pick.