World Cup 2010 Blog: Roy Hodgson Names Squad, Already Confused

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Roy Hodgson Names Squad, Already Confused Posted: 16 May 2012 08:05 AM PDT The Roy Hodgson era has begun for England with a slight stumble, and a delightfully promising one at that. He named his official 23 today, and two of the names garnering the most attention seem to be Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andy Carroll, two youngsters with lots of potential, but actual contributions to the Euros up for liberal speculation. The former is 18 and uncapped, thus making this a rather big deal for him. But Roy’s pretty comfortable with the selection for reasons which don’t actually exist, which has to be reaffirming for the fans. This was Roy’s justification of the selection… The Arsenal midfielder was one of the surprise inclusions to the 23, after starting just six Premier League matches this season. "He is a very exciting player who has made an impression on me, not least in his performance against AC Milan at the Emirates," Hodgson said. "I was there live and saw how well he dealt with Pirlo and Ambrosini. He can play wide or central and for future and can continue as he started." Squad sheets on the day: Nowhere will you find Massimo Ambrosini or Andrea Pirlo. In fact, Pirlo’s checks are now being cut by Juventus, which makes this whole scenario implausible, if not impossible. Perhaps he simply confused him with Zlatan? Long hair all looks the same from a distance. Which might explain the Carroll selection as well. (The remainder of the squad can be found here.)

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