Hodgson will change team for Rooney
pictured
Roy Hodgson (pictured) will return Wayne Rooney to the England side on Tuesday
Roy Hodgson hailed his strikers for their goalscoring efforts in England's thrilling 3-2 win over Sweden on Friday night - but confirmed Wayne Rooney will return for the qualification decider with co-hosts Ukraine on Tuesday.
Hodgson's bold decision to select Andy Carroll paid off when the Liverpool man put England ahead with a first-half header. Danny Welbeck secured a famous win when he flicked home a cross from Theo Walcott - who also scored the equaliser - 12 minutes from time.
But Hodgson said: "I welcome those kind of selection problems, I was really pleased with the performance of the front players. But Wayne Rooney is a special player and, frankly, it will be hard to leave him out. I'm afraid you expect him to get back into the team when the suspension is served."
The statement merely underlined what a massive role Rooney is being afforded in the Hodgson era.
He must have gone through every emotion in the stands on Friday night though, as England established a winning position, tossed away the initiative with some chronic defending, and finally claimed a vital three points thanks to Hodgson's match-changing introduction of Walcott.
"Theo's contribution was enormous," said Hodgson.
"To come on as a sub, score and set up the winner means he'll be very happy."
Two goals at the start of the second half from Olof Mellberg turned the game on its head, as well as earning the former Aston Villa defender a man-of-the-match award he did not want.
"It doesn't mean a lot," he said.
"It feels a little bit strange to win something when you lose a match and go out of a tournament."
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roy as got it right so far so who am i to disageree with what choice he makes. Lets give the team credit, we know they are not the best team there, but the character they showed last night after losing the lead and going behind was fantastic. Under Capello we would have lost 4-1 so well done to all the team and staff.
we probably cant win it but lets enjoy the victories, by christ we dont half make it known when we lose!
COME ON ENGLAND GET AS FAR AS YOU CAN MORE PARTYING THE BETTER...
Don't change the team, don't bring on Rooney, we haven't needed him to score a goal for us yet. He didn't play against Belgium in the friendly and as far as I can see, we're doing ok without him.
If you need to, bring him on late second half but don't start with him.
A team is not just 1 person, it's 11 players and we are doing just fine with him in the stands.
Well England showed guts yesterday, but their lamentable performance makes you wonder why England player cannot do the simple basics of passing the football..their are playing with way to much fear, they panic when in possession, like the football's a hot potato ready to explode.... Hodgson need's to get these player's back to basics on the training ground with hourly drills of simple two yard passing... England player's must learn to treat the football like it's the love of their life's, with patient's and care, cause at the moment they can't get rid of it quick enough!! nevertheless well done England you showed heart, spirit, good job!!!!
Our defence at times was lacking in skill and awareness they need to be conscious of All that is going on around them , We lost the ball too much we could not keep it for long especially in their half. I thought the ref overlooked blatant fouls of barging and shoving our players off their feet. What matters is we won and must learn from the defensive mistakes and learn to keep the ball.
