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Hodgson heralds next generation of England with Euros squad

By on May 16, 2016

Generational changes never happen in soccer overnight; it’s a gradual, perpetual process. Roy Hodgson, however, signaled the beginning of a new dawn for the English national team by naming a youthful provisional squad for Euro 2016, the youngest England squad to appear at a major tournament since 2006.

Hodgson belied his reputation for naming safe squads with a team on average three years younger than England’s 2010 World Cup squad and even younger than their 2012 Euro squad, which was the third youngest in the tournament.

If anything the Englishman has been criticized for being a bit reckless picking such a youthful squad, given more than half of the 26-man provisional roster has never appeared at an international tournament before. The old-hands such as Glen Johnson, Leighton Baines, Steven Gerrard, Phil Jagielka, Frank Lampard, and Rickie Lambert were all left off to contemplate the finale of their international careers.  Michael Carrick, who only ever made one appearance at a major tournament in a decade-long international career, is also in Hodgson’s rear-view mirror.

Instead, Hodgson selected newcomers galore: Tom Heaton, Danny Rose, Ryan Bertrand, Nathaniel Clyne, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Dele Alli, Fabian Delph, Eric Dier, Danny Drinkwater, Andros Townsend, Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford.

Said Hodgson, per The Guardian: “We’ve worked very hard over these qualifying games to analyze and think about the players we think are right for this occasion and this time there are a lot of players who haven’t got a lot of experience in terms of international football,” he said. “But I think that over the last couple of games we’ve played that they’re an exciting bunch. They’re hungry, enthusiastic and energetic and I think all of these things are positives. We can only hope the faith we have in them is rewarded but the one thing I do know is they won’t be letting anybody down for want of trying.”

The most surprising inclusion is Marcus Rashford, who has yet to appear for the national team (or even have a headshot on the FA’s official website). At the age of eighteen, he only has seven career goals, but Hodgson was confident in selecting the teenager ahead of the safer option in Theo Walcott.

“It is always a danger,” said Hodgson, per The Guardian, “but if you are fearful there is a danger you don’t select a top player. And if I was fearful I would have missed a few along the way, including Dele Alli. He [Rashford] has burst on the scene. I didn’t like the idea that after one game he had to be in the England squad. But I never dismissed it. We followed him, watched him, liaised with the coaching staff. And who knows? In the week that we work with him – and the game, or part of a game, that he plays – we might start thinking: ‘We really need this fella, he is actually better than some of the others we were contemplating ahead of him.’”

“The competition is quite strong, he [Rashford] will understand that, but he deserves to be selected in this larger squad.  It will be interesting to see what he can do. It may only be for one week but I am pleased he has had such a good end to the season. It’s great to be able to include him. There’s no reason why he can’t knock someone off their perch but it will be harder than some people might expect.”

Rashford will have the friendlies against Australia and Portugal to make his case, but many expect him to be one of three cuts to the final roster.

Other notable inclusions are Andros Townsend, who has recovered from a rough patch of form with Tottenham Hotspur in the last six months at Newcastle United.  On Sunday, he put in a fantastic performance in Newcastle’s 5-1 win over Spurs, excelling against his old club.

Hodgson has, though, gotten heat for only naming three center-backs: Chris Smalling, Gary Cahill and John Stones.

Hodgson explained: “Eric Dier can, if necessary, step back and play there,” Hodgson said. “That was his original position. He spent most of his career playing centre-back before he moved into central midfield. Any time you ask someone to move where they have not necessarily been playing on a regular basis is a bit of an ask, but how much cover can you get? Take the last World Cup when the Germans had two centre-backs who played every game. We have at least three, and potentially four. How much cover can you actually take?”

“Why are we not producing more centre-backs is a good question. It is something that we at the FA should think about. We should really start targeting certain areas and left-sided centre-backs in particular because there are no real left-sided centre-backs around in the way there are in a lot of countries. Maybe that’s something to think about when we’re picking our under-21s, under-20s and under-19s and hopefully we can develop somebody. But you are always at the mercy of the clubs. They choose the players.”

England have an overload in the midfield, where they are looking to build on Tottenham and Leicester City’s success in the Premier League with Alli, Dier, and Drinkwater in the engine-room.  Ross Barkley, Jordan Henderson, James Milner and, curiously, Jack Wilshere also made the roster.  Wilshere has struggled with injuries for years, and his first start of the season was on Sunday. Yet Hodgson seems to always have a place for the young midfielder in his squad, provided the Arsenal player is fit.

For all the cynicism constantly swirling around the English national team, though, Hodgson can only be commended for stepping outside of his comfort zone in order to herald in the next generation of English footballers at Euro 2016.

Homepage photo credit: Clément Bucco-Lechat (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.