With the World Cup 2014 qualifiers back in full swing, England manager Roy Hodgson has announced his squad. The most surprising news is the reintegration of Rio Ferdinand in the lineup.
Ferdinand had been omitted from the roster during the last few callups and many attributed it to his fallout with Ashley Cole after the John Terry racism scandal. Hodgson hopes that there will not be major conflict between the two in the current stint.
"Let's hope [there are no issues] I will cross that bridge when I come to it," said Hodgson. "I think the spirit in the group is good. I am happy with it. I am happy with it. They do seem to care about each other."
"I would be unhappy I suppose if there were tensions between players in a group," he added, "But on the other hand, this is an England team and these players are fierce rivals sometimes on the field of play and they have special agendas for their club teams."
"There is always, when you bring a national team together, the job of making sure the group is comfortable and people are comfortable with each other," Hodgson noted. "But we are talking about two very experienced professional players here and we are talking about the England football team. I don't envisage any problems."
He did note that his motivation for reinstating Ferdinand was for soccer reasons. "At the moment I have selected him because I think he is the right man to do the job. That's the bottom line. I'm hoping he will be pleased," he said.
Complete Roster
Keepers: Ben Foster, Joe Hart, Fraser Forster
Defenders: Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashely Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Chris Smalling, Kyle Walker
Midfielders: Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Leon Osman, Scott Parker, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young
Strikers: Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Welbeck
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