Roy Hodgson says he has an England selection headache ahead of Euro 2016 opener
Friday 10 June 2016 22:18, UK
England manager Roy Hodgson admits he has a selection headache ahead of the opening Euro 2016 game against Russia in Marseille.
Hodgson has shuffled his squad and tried out different formations in England's warm-up matches, but he now needs to finalise his starting XI for the Stade Velodrome showdown.
"Yes, there is a selection headache in terms of so many good players who could quite easily command a place in the team," he said.
"It has not been easy to select a team but I don't think I am alone, there are quite a few teams in the competition who have got a strong squad.
"But I am pleased with the squad I have and I have all 23 players fit and ready for selection."
It is the youngest ever England squad for a European Championship with an average age of 25.8 - with only four players remaining from Euro 2012 - but Hodgson does not believe the lack of experience will be a problem.
"I think we have got qualities, there is no doubt about that," he said.
"We are relatively inexperienced because it is a young team in terms of age and number of caps. That can't be seen as an advantage per se but I think that lack of experience is countered in some way by the youth, by the energy.
"Most importantly of all, it is a group of players who are really keen to do well. They have prepared extremely well, so I can't ask any more of them.
"All I can do is keep trying to guide them along the way and hope that they succeed as well as they would like to."
Hodgson erred on the side of caution when asked how far he felt England, who also play Wales and Slovakia in Group B, could go in the tournament.
He said: "We want to go as far as we possibly can and we'll work very hard to play well enough to get as far as we can. But you never know what's going to happen in a football match.
"Each game has it's own history, you don't know which opponents you are going to come up against, you never know what fates will be for you, so we're trying to be ready for everything and we're trying to stay in this competition for as long as possible."
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