Roy Hodgson opts for youthful England squad at World Cup

Roy Hodgson opts for youthful England squad at World Cup

Roy Hodgson opts for youthful England squad at World Cup  - Ross Barkley, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Luke Shaw were selected to England's 23-man FIFA World Cup squad.

The quartet, all 23 or younger, are among the 12 players heading to their first ever major championship as coach Roy Hodgson looks to the future.

The squad announcement heralds a new era for England, so starved of success since its 1966 World Cup triumph. Often plagued by the heavy weight of national expectation, Hodgson will hope his young players can spring a surprise in Brazil as his side initially faces off against Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in Group D.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will again lead the side, and the experienced pair of Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard are sure to play important roles as well.

But it is the injection of youth that excites England fans, a view shared by Hodgson.

Southampton's 18-year-old defender Shaw was the youngest player picked, with his likely selection becoming a formality after Ashley Cole's international retirement Sunday.

Hodgson also picked seven players on standby, including Toronto FC striker Jermain Defoe, but they are not expected to attend England's camp in Portugal next week, or be required in Miami for pre-tournament friendlies and training.

Squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Celtic), Ben Foster (West Brom), Joe Hart (Manchester City)

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Southampton), Chris Smalling (Manchester United)

Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Everton), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Southampton), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

Forwards: Rickie Lambert (Southampton), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United)

On standby: Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Andy Carroll (West Ham), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC), Jon Flanagan (Liverpool), John Ruddy (Norwich City), John Stones (Everton) // ( goal.com )

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With Di Canio, Sunderland’s real action will be off pitch

With Di Canio, Sunderland’s real action will be off pitch - Not so much on the pitch, where the delivery of excitement has been more than a touch limited this season. No, the action will all be in the away team’s technical area.

If Sunderland fans thought that their previous manager Martin O’Neill could get a little exercised on the touchline, with his St Vitus Dance twitches and attempts at the world standing high jump record every time his team scored, they have seen nothing compared to what their new man will bring.

For Paolo di Canio, the manager’s job consists of delivering 90 minutes of theatre.

Sunderland supporters should brace themselves for drama when their team take on Chelsea on Sunday.

Never in the history of the Premier League has there been a dugout presence like him. To say he lives every minute of his team’s action is an understatement. Across an hour and a half he rants, he rages, he storms. If you thought Rafa Benitez’s intricate semaphores were entertaining, wait till you see Di Canio flapping.

When he was in charge at the County Ground, Swindon Town supporters found themselves for much of the game looking at the dugout. To let the eyes stray on to the pitch was to miss the real action.

The moment he walks out to take up his position, Di Canio appears to be on the very brink of explosion, Vesuvius on the lip of eruption. Everything and anything sends him into a frenzy. Referees, assistants, the opposition: he will go apoplectic at the merest infraction.

It is not just the open questioning of the integrity of officials that has seen him in hot water. He was once sent to the stands at Swindon simply for the alarming nature of his body language. It was, the referee decided, inappropriate to see a man apparently intent on physical violence storming around on the touchline.

But what most enrages Di Canio, what seems to provoke his fury, is the performance of his own team. A man of such demanding standards he makes Roy Keane look soft, much of his time in the dug-out is spent screaming abuse at his own players.

Or turning round and complaining in the most dramatic fashion to his assistants every time someone does something wrong. Those on the bench will have quickly to learn to listen to him endlessly slagging off their colleagues. Boy, this is a man who takes some pleasing.

In his habit of making very public his critique of his players, Di Canio will find himself unusual among Premier League managers. The orthodoxy in the competition is for bosses to restrict their negative observations to the privacy of the dressing room or the training ground.

Sure, Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson, Sam Allardyce and the rest can get very animated on the touchline. But it is usually about a refereeing decision or a foul. Rafa Benitez is so careful about not singling out individuals he won’t even praise them. When invited at press conferences to eulogise a Frank Lampard goal or a Petr Cech save, he will say yes it was good, but so was the performance of the other players.

The only manager who comes close to showing Di Canio’s impatience is Roberto Mancini, who can get very overwrought about his team’s performance. Maybe it is an Italian thing. Or maybe it is a reflection of the fact that, unlike Benitez, Ferguson and Wenger, Mancini and Di Canio were both brilliant footballers themselves, and they shudder when they see their players failing to do what they could easily have managed in their day.

Either way, it does not necessarily promote long term harmony in a dressing room. But it can produce results. As was evidenced at Swindon where the rows, fallings-out and exclusions were legion, even as the team progressed up the league table.

One thing is for sure, Sunday is going to be something new for the Sunderland players. There are those who believe that O’Neill had lost a lot of the energy that once characterised his management. Certainly he looked and sounded very flat in his final appearance on the touchline last weekend. That was reflected, so insiders say, in a kind of laissez-faire attitude around the club. He was frequently absent from training, leaving the detail to his lieutenants.

Well, it won’t be like that with Di Canio. His arrival at the Stadium of Light will have been like chucking an alka seltzer into a still, calm glass of water. All this week he will have been on the training ground in the faces of the players, demanding more, insisting on more, screaming for more.

It may prove short term. He may well crash and burn. As his demeanour on the touchline will suggest, it does not necessarily do much for your club’s wider dignity having a certifiable lunatic in charge.

But watching him in action over the next few weeks, Sunderland supporters may well come to the conclusion that a rocket up the backside of the kind Di Canio will deliver is precisely what is needed to rescue their club from ignominy. After all, they are the ones who have been obliged to watch Adam Johnson this season. // By Eurosport | Jim White

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Europa League - Torres shines as Chelsea gain advantage over Rubin

Europa League - Torres shines as Chelsea gain advantage over Rubin – Europa League quarter-final first leg, Stamford Bridge – Chelsea 3 (Torres 16, 70, Moses 33) Rubin Kazan 1 (Natcho 41 pen)

Fernando Torres scored twice as Chelsea beat Rubin Kazan 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.

Goals from the much-maligned Spaniard and Nigeria forward Victor Moses gave the hosts a deserved 2-0 lead, but they stepped back leading into half time and paid the price when John Terry’s handball allowed Natcho to convert from the penalty spot.

Eurosport - Chelsea's Fernando Torres (C) celebrates his goal with teammate Frank Lampard during their Europa League first leg quarter-final soccer match against Rubin Kazan at Stamford Bridge in London April 2013

The second half was a less frantic affair but Chelsea managed to put daylight between them and the Russians when Torres headed home his second of the night and 19th of the season after a fine cross from Juan Mata.

Rafael Benitez made six changes from the FA Cup win over Manchester United, with two enforced after Ashley Cole was injured and Demba Ba cup-tied.

Their refreshed XI started brightly as Yossi Benayoun impressed on the left, while a masked Torres looked more confident than usual as he led the line for the hosts. Rubin, meanwhile, surprisingly dropped striker Salomon Rondon to the bench, and it showed as replacement Vladimir Dyadyun toiled up front.

It was 1-0 after 16 minutes as Torres was rewarded for his energy and bravery after taking down a long ball by David Luiz – with goalkeeper and defender flying in, the Spain striker hurled himself at the second ball to bundle it home.

Rubin, who initially sat deep and looked for the counter attack, did respond as Natcho’s long-range drive stung the palms of Petr Cech.

But the hosts were knocking it about nicely and Ryan Bertrand was denied a wonder-goal by visiting skipper Roman Sharonov’s vital clearance after the reserve left-back beat three men and clipped the ball over goalkeeper Sergei Ryzhikov.

So the second goal was richly deserved, coming after Torres once more caused the Russians problems, his header palmed away by Ryzhikov and follow-up cross only half-cleared for Moses to rifle the ball into the top left.

As with the opener, Rubin did respond, although this time with greater effect as Chelsea found themselves on the back foot.

And four minutes before half-time they got their reward when Terry stuck an arm out as attacking left-back Cristian Ansaldi fired a curler after cutting inside past Branislav Ivanovic.

Terry was booked for the handball and Natcho made no mistake from the spot, sending Cech the wrong way as he claimed a vital away goal.

Ansaldi almost got a second just before the break when another long-range effort dipped just wide, and having dominated much of the half suddenly it was Chelsea who were happier to hear the whistle blow, but Rubin made the half-time change as Rondon replaced Dyadyun, who had picked up a knock.

The Blues started the second half stronger though, as Mata forced a smart stop from Ryzhikov while Cesar Azpilicueta saw a low finish blocked at a corner.

Chelsea were still having their moments at the back though, with Cech flapping not for the first time as Sharonov almost headed in from a corner.

Down the other end Terry, desperate to atone for his earlier error, went close with a similar effort but after the hour mark both sides seemed to run out of gas as the tempo slowed somewhat.

Benitez acted by introducing Eden Hazard, but the withdrawal of Moses seemed unusual, with Frank Lampard ineffectual until that point.

However, Lampard had a role in his team’s third, releasing Mata down the left, with the former Valencia man’s excellent cross met by a flying Torres, who buried a thumping header into the top right.

With the two-goal cushion restored, and Rubin clearly tiring, Chelsea could afford to sit back again as they held on to the ball for much of the latter stages.

Rubin were exhausted, with the closest the Russians coming to a goal threat a corner in the dying seconds that Chelsea cleared.

The away goal will have boosted Kurban Berdev’s side, but Chelsea’s two goal advantage makes them favourites to reach the semi-finals as they seek to be the first club to win Europe’s secondary club competition the season after the Champions League.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Fernando Torres (Chelsea: Took his goals bravely and was a constant threat against the Russian side. Led the line with power and – unusually – confidence.

PLAYER RATINGS

CHELSEA: Cech 5, Azpilicueta 6, Luiz 6, Terry 5, Bertrand 7, Ramires 7, Lampard 6, Moses 7, Mata 7, Benayoun 6, Torres 8; Subs: Hazard 6, Oscar N/A, Marin N/A.

RUBIN: Ryzhikov 6, Navas 6, Kuzmin 6, Kaleshin 6, Ansaldi 6, Orbaiz 5, Sharonov 7, Eremenko 6, Natcho 7, Karedeniz 6, Dyadyun 5; Subs: Rondon 5, Kasaev N/A.

By Reda Maher - on Twitter @Reda_Eurosport | Eurosport – 11 hours ago

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