England manager Roy Hodgson has selected his squad to face Germany and Netherlands as he prepares for Euro 2016.
Leicester City midfielder Danny Drinkwater has received his first call-up following an impressive season at the Premier League leaders.
Captain Wayne Rooney misses out through injury, but Danny Rose does receive a call-up thanks to his form for Spurs at left-back.
Of Drinkwater, Hodgson said: "What he has done has been pretty evident to everybody. He's had a fantastic season in a team that's having a fantastic season.
"In that area of the field the competition is quite fierce. On this occasion I thought it was an opportunity to bring him in and see if he can reproduce the type of football he's shown for Leicester at international level."
Rooney may be absent through injury but remains an integral part of a squad which remains open before the May 12 selection deadline for Euro 2016.
Hodgson added: "Things are looking good on paper - what happens on that patch of grass when you step over that white line are two different things.
"I'm not prepared to say 'this is it'. At the moment we're looking at a fairly large group of players, but who knows? There are still five or six weeks left of the season.
"These last two years, 16 games since the World Cup - we've only lost one of those, away to Spain - they've taught me a lot.
"I'm hoping that potential and that prospect will be enhanced by the two games we're playing now and we'll learn a lot because we'll have a stern test.
"I'll be closer (to final decisions after the friendlies), there's no question about that."
Hodgson added: "At the moment looking at the front six of the team we have an awful lot of alternatives to play in different ways. Wayne as our captain is an important part of that."
No comments:
Post a Comment