Tonight we’ll see a rather depleted England side desperate for a win with Brazil 2014 around the corner against a strong German side. But who will come out on top?
Joachim Low has announced he will rest some of their key players such as Mesut Ozil, Lahm and Neuer but their younger ranks are still capable of causing England some concern. The bookies favour Germany to come out on top with Thomas Muller looking a good value to score at 11/5. Roy will once again want to give the younger players a good run out and he announced that Kyle Walker will be able to recover in time and will try to find success on the right. Manchester United’s Phil Jones has been ruled out after being taken off in England’s latest 2-0 loss to Chile and is likely to be replaced by Phil Jagielka.
This will be England’s last chance to show what they’re capable of, and, with World Cup squad selection coming closer by the minute, the younger breed of English talent such as the Saint’s, Adam Lallana and Tottenham’s bright spark Townsend should be ready to prove to Roy Hodgson that they are capable of carrying the Nation’s hopes on their shoulders.
Even though the likes of Gerrard and Lampard are still class players in the Premier League, this will probably be their last World Cup before they reach their sell by dates. This means that Roy will have to start thinking about the new foundations of the National side (just like how he’s integrated Wilshere into the side).
In more team news, it has been announced yesterday that Joe Hart will replace Forster in goal and re-gain his number 1 spot.. From the beginning of the season Joe Hart has not been up to his spectacular standard and is now starting to feel the pressure. Pelligrini dropped him because of an array of blunders followed by Hodgson dropping him against Chile on Friday.
Celtic’s Forster replaced Hart on Friday. He is a capable keeper as he’s showed in the past (such as his brilliant performance against Barca in the CPL), yet Hart is still technically the best keeper England has to offer.
I personally am a major fan of Joe and still see him as England’s Number 1. I believe that like any other player, keepers have their ups and downs. But it becomes harder to simply drop a keeper for a few games like you would an outfield player.
However, if Manchester City’s current number two is still dropped at club level in the upcoming months, it will be hard for Roy to select him when he’s low on confidence. England shouldn’t worry too much though, even if he doesn’t get in the first 11 for Brazil, he’ll at least be a replacement and we can argue who plays closer to the tournament.
England are by far the underdogs for this encounter, but who doesn’t love a good underdog? England need to be physically tough and hard to break down against a German side with the flare and trickery. They’ll need to dust themselves off against their recent defeat to Chile and forget about their previous 4-1 defeat to this side in the 2010 World Cup if they are to stand any chance of winning.
What do you think the result will be? What squad do you think Roy will pick for Brazil 2014?
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England playd well even though we lost, the youngsters like lallana played great. I personally think we should take lallana, baines and obviously Hart to the World Cup!