England manager Roy Hodgson has named Andy Carroll in his starting line-up for the Euro 2012 warm-up match against Norway, citing the Liverpool striker’s end-of-season form as the main reason. Pointing the way: Andy Carroll will lead the line for England against Norway on Saturday (Picture: Getty) West Ham goalkeeper Rob Green will also start for his country for the first time since he famously fumbled a Clint Dempsey shot into his own net in the opening match of the 2010 World Cup. The match against Norway represents Hodgson’s first in charge of the national team since he was named Fabio Capello’s successor earlier this month.And he says he is hopeful of learning some more about the players he has chosen in his squad for the summer tournament. On the selection of Carroll, Hodgson said: ‘Carroll will start. He ended the season really well after a difficult start at Liverpool and he has continued in the same vein with us.’A lot of positions are taken care of as we’re still waiting for the Chelsea players and of course Wayne Rooney.’I know what I am going to do, but I haven’t told the players yet.’Hodgson continued: ‘The back four takes care of itself, Rob Green will be in goal and Steven [Gerrard] will start as captain.’ Ups and downs: Rob Green, pictured on his last appearance for England against USA in the 2010 World Cup (Picture: PA) England go into the match with a few unavailable players – including right-back Glen Johnson and striker Danny Welbeck, both of whom are struggling with injuries.This follows the news third-choice goalkeeper John Ruddy has been forced to withdraw from the squad after breaking a finger in training. However, Hodgson has allayed fears over midfielder Scott Parker, who was captain in England’s last outing – a 3-2 home defeat to the Netherlands in February – and said he would have some involvement against Norway. ‘Scott Parker is good, we were concerned about his achilles but he’s taken part in all the training and will be taking part tomorrow,’ the manager said.’Glen Johnson has an infected toe that will keep him out of the game tomorrow, but we hope he’ll be OK by next week.’Danny Welbeck’s injury has cleared up less quickly than we’d hoped, but the medical experts tell me he is going to be OK [for Euro 2012].’ Excited: England manager Roy Hodgson is looking forward to Euro 2012 (Picture: Press Association) Asked about his feelings on England’s chances following his first few days at a training camp with the 23-man squad, Hodgson added: ‘I think [our chances are] quite good.’I've been impressed with the enthusiasm and the energy the players have brought to the training sessions.’But again we are actually missing probably a third of the squad, and of that third there are quite a few very important players that as yet I haven’t had the chance to work with or see in action.’Certainly the ones I’ve worked with I can only heap praise on for the way they’ve worked so far.It’s always good if your first impression is a good one and my first impression of this group is a very good one.’

A news article on 2012-05-25 18:39:31 from: The Metro

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