England expecting tough task v Germany

Football | England

England manager Roy Hodgson says his side expect a tough task when they take on Germany at Wembley on Tuesday, looking for a first home win over their old rivals since 1975. Kickoff is at 10pm.
A defeat by Chile at Wembley on Friday ended a 10-match unbeaten run and Hodgson says Germany will be a good test of where England are with seven months to go until the World Cup Finals in Brazil.
"Both of us will be looking to make certain that we find the right team, the right formation and the right way of playing before we come to Brazil," Hodgson said of himself and Germany coach Joachim Loew.
"I don't think friendlies should ever be used as an enormous barometer of how good or poor (a team) is at any moment in time.


"The only real barometer can come in qualifying matches and major tournaments because in a friendly you're never really 100 per cent certain of how committed you or your opponents are to the game, and what level of experimentation is going on."
Hodgson will be boosted by the return of several of his best players from injury, including captain Steven Gerrard, striker Daniel Sturridge, defenders Ashley Cole and Phil Jagielka and goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Hart, who was dropped by his club, Manchester City, after a number of recent poor performances, was rested against Chile but Hodgson says he remains his No 1.
"All I can do is give him the shirt and the chance to go out and play and afterwards, he's going to have to face whatever he faces," Hodgson said.
"(If) he plays well and keeps a clean sheet to help us to win the game, I'm sure people are going to be saying some very good things about him.

"But if he doesn't and lets a couple of easy goals in, he's going to have to accept that there'll be criticism because that's the way of the world we live in."
Hodgson admitted that England deserved to be beaten by "a good Chile side" and says Germany are ahead of England in their development.

"As far as we're concerned, we are perhaps to some extent in that transitional period that Germany found themselves in 2006," he said.
"We have what we think is a very exciting group of young players coming along and we still have a backbone of experienced players that have been to World Cups before.
"I would like to think we can give a very good account of ourselves when we get to Brazil."
As for Tuesday, Hodgson said he hopes his side put on a good display.

"We'll have a lot of fresh legs coming in which will be good," he said. "We're aware they have a very dynamic midfield and we're going to have to be dynamic ourselves to keep them at bay.
"We may have to face the fact they'll ask big questions of us defensively, because they'll have a big attacking threat.

"There will be a full house. The England fans coming to the game will be expecting a strong English performance and we will be doing our very best to give them that," he said.
"There's an enormous amount of prestige at stake."
Germany come to London on the back of a 1-1 draw with Italy in Milan and a performance which pleased coach Joachim Loew.

The one dampener was the injury to midfielder Sami Khedira who underwent surgery Saturday on a torn cruciate ligament in his right knee. Khedira will be out for six months and is now a doubt for the World Cup.

Loew has released captain Philipp Lahm, keeper Manuel Neuer and midfielder Mesut Oezil for the England match.
He is set to give Borussia Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller his debut, and will use the match for "some variations."
Central defender Per Mertesacker, who missed the game against Italy while recovering from flu, will again be available.