adminEngland winger Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain will play his part in the Fifa World Cup™ after recovering from his knee injury, manager Roy Hodgson said after the 0-0 draw with Honduras.
Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered the injury in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Ecuador and Hodgson had said he may have to wait until 24 hours before England’s Group D opener against Italy on June 14 before deciding whether the Arsenal wide-man could be part of his squad.
But on Saturday Hodgson took a much more positive tone. “Everyone is fit. Oxlade-Chamberlain is making good progress. I think he’ll make the tournament without a shadow of a doubt,” Hodgson said.
England were relieved to get through a tough encounter with Honduras without picking up any further injuries. Captain Steven Gerrard was replaced at half-time but said that had been planned before the game due to a slight concern over his groin after Wednesday’s game. “I had a tight groin in midweek so it was always the plan for me to play just 45 minutes” he said.
A 43-minute stoppage midway through the first half, due to concerns of an electric storm warning, knocked both sides out of their rhythm and the second half was also a largely scrappy affair.
“Honduras were quite physical,” said Hodgson, “It was a real stop-start game, one of the most frustrating I’ve been involved in for a long time. We had a long stoppage, I thought we dealt with it and in the second half it was attack versus defence.
“But now it is time for the real thing,” he said before England headed off to the airport to catch their flight to Brazil. — Fifa
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