VARDY FACES CHOP FOR ENGLAND OPENER
Striker set to be dumped on bench as Roy shakes up team for Russia clash
JAMIE VARDY is facing the axe for England’s Euro 2016 opener against Russia. Roy Hodgson has not yet told his players the team he intends to pick for the Group B clash in Marseille tomorrow night.
But in top-secret training sessions this week, Sportsmail understands they have been practising in a formation that suggests both Premier League Footballer of the Year Vardy and James Milner are the casualties of their stuttering display against Portugal eight days ago.
England’s players have certainly been left to believe they are both axed, with Raheem Sterling the favourite to replace Vardy and either Jack Wilshere or Adam Lallana in for Milner. The latter decision depends entirely on whether Hodgson and his coaching staff think Wilshere is sharp enough to start. The England boss would certainly like a player of Wilshere’s passing ability on the pitch if he can trust his fitness.
If Vardy does discover he is indeed on the bench tomorrow, it will cap a difficult week for the Leicester City striker who is still agonising over a massive money offer from Arsenal.
It is unclear if that distraction is influencing Hodgson’s decision but he has already given Vardy time off to get married in the build-up to the tournament here in France and the timing of Arsenal’s bid has not helped.
That said, Vardy (below) was among England’s poorer players against Portugal at Wembley. He was deployed out wide on the left and had just nine touches — one of which was at kick-off — before being replaced in the second half. Teenager Marcus Rashford, meanwhile, has admitted he’s been living in a dream world since his shock inclusion in England’s Euro 2016 squad.
In his first interview since taking English football by storm, the Manchester United striker has spoken of his disbelief at the whirlwind few months that have changed his life.
Rashford, 18, who scored 138 seconds into his England debut against Australia last month, was just another academy prospect at Old Trafford in February.
But tomorrow he could play for England in a major tournament as Hodgson’s men begin their European Championship campaign.
‘When I first went into the changing room and saw all of the players’ names on the back of their shirts, it didn’t seem real,’ he told the FA’s website.
‘I remember going home after and speaking to my brother about it. He agreed with me — he didn’t think it was real either. That’s what it’s like until you get used to it.
‘I tried not to think about it too much because that’s probably where the pressure and stuff starts to get to people’s heads and affect their performance.
‘It doesn’t seem real, when you look back at it. (At Christmas) I was trying to work my way into (United’s) Under-21s and all of a sudden I appeared in the first team — you have to be ready when your chance comes. ‘To be honest, I wasn’t really thinking about the England set-up as much because obviously at United there were a lot of matches coming thick and fast, so all of my focus was on that. ‘At the end of the season, you hear talk and stuff, but to be here now is just amazing. ‘For it to be in my hands to go out and help the country is an amazing feeling.’ On his goalscoring England debut, Rashford added: ‘For me, I was just concentrating on playing how I’d been playing and all of a sudden the goal came. It was a good way to start.’
Rashford’s club and international captain Wayne Rooney knows more than most about the pressure that comes with being a wonderkid living in the public eye but even he has been taken aback by his young team-mate’s progress since making the breakthrough at United.
‘Yeah, he has been great,’ admitted England’s record goalscorer.
‘At the time he came into the team at United, we were going through a bit of a bad period and to come into the team and take to it like he did was incredible really.’
LIKELY ENGLAND TEAM: Hart, Walker, Smalling, Cahill, Rose, Dier, Lallana or Wilshere, Alli, Sterling, Rooney, Kane.