With the Premier League season done and truly dusted, the focus is quickly shifting to Brazil with the birthplace of Samba football set to host World Cup 2014 this summer.
As the show-piece event rapidly approaches, national sides are starting to name their squads and England is no exception. Earlier today in Luton, Roy Hodgson named his 23-man squad with some glaring ommissions and a few not so surprising inclusions. Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick will be spending the summer watching from the sidelines after missing out on a spot on the plane while Southampton left-back Luke Shaw replaces Chelsea stalwart Ashley Cole who promptly announced his retirement from international football. Although there’s been an eyebrow or two raised at some of Hodgson’s selections, the inclusion of five Liverpool players haven’t ruffled any feathers at all.
The Reds, who narrowly missed out on their first title of the Premier League era, have been playing some of the most attractive football in England and it’s on the back of their success that former Liverpool boss Hodgson has built the foundation of the team. Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard will of course wear the armband for the Three Lion’s this summer, but he’ll be in good company — at least for the most part — with Glen Johnson, Jordan Henderson, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling all answering their country’s call while young Jon Flanagan has been placed on the stand-by list.
Brendan Rodgers side scored 101 league goals this season en route to finishing the campaign as runners-up to Manchester City. The free-scoring Reds have been an inspiration to teams around the country and the national side will (hopefully) be no different with the five Liverpool boys accounting for 47 of the 101 goals. We’ll see if Hodgson can harness any of that fire-power this summer.
