HODGSON IS OPTIMISTIC

England manager Roy Hodgson says that he is upbeat about the chances of players like Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Phil Jagielka appearing at the World Cup 2014. It is still highly doubtful whether the England manager would be taking these players to Brazil 2014 since they have been on a poor form or injured for most of the season.

Jagielka has been one of the important players for the England national team since John Terry retired from international football. He had formed an excellent partnership with Gary Cahill at the back, but the Everton man is yet to return from a spell on the sidelines.

It is not known whether Jagielka will be 100% fit for the upcoming World Cup 2014. As for the likes of Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the two players have been suffering from a poor run of form in the second half of the season. Hodgson will be name his squad in the next few weeks. England will be expected to perform well at the World Cup after having done well in the recent friendly matches. However, they will have to negotiate a tough group containing former world champions like Italy and Uruguay.

Tottenham defender Kyle Walker is also a major doubt for the World Cup due to injury, and is tipped by france equateur cote to make the cut.

“Wilshere has been training with the others at Arsenal and, while he is not being thrown back into the fray, he is there. He has been training with the team, as far as I know, for a while. I am not prepared to have a 100 per cent rule that you either play in the last game of the season or you don’t go – I am not prepared to do that. I have spoken to Arsene (Wenger) and they have been holding him back because they don’t want to push him too early,” said Hodgson.