Well done Roy

Before the European Championships, nobody was optimistic about England’s chances. Wayne Rooney was suspended for the first two games and the FA had appointed a manager that many were unsure about.

Things did not get any easier for the Three Lions in the build up to the tournament in Poland and Ukraine, as we lost John Ruddy, Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard and Gary Cahill to injury in the warm up matches.

All of that is before we mention Riogate, which saw John Terry, Phil Jagielka and then, rookie Liverpool right back, Martin Kelly preferred to Rio Ferdinand, a man of 81 England caps as well as the former captain.

Many presumed that Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were not in the same squad due to the impending racism charge that the latter faces for allegedly abusing the formers brother, Anton, who plays for QPR.

Hodgson, though, maintained that the decision was based on footballing reasons and you can’t blame him for not wanting to dwell on the issue as he had the, rather important, job of preparing the national team for a European Championship in the space of about 3 weeks.

Another dilemma that the former Finland and Switzerland boss had to deal with was who to pick as captain. Stuart Pearce, the caretaker manager, elected for Scott Parker in the friendly against the Netherlands in February.

Roy Hodgson, though, chose his former Liverpool skipper, Steven Gerrard. A decision that should be commended, Parker is among the best in the business at protecting the back four, but Gerrard is something else, arguably the most influential midfielder of a generation.

Who doesn’t remember his heroics for his home town club in the Champions League winning campaign of 2005, likewise who can forget him, almost single handedly, winning the FA Cup for Liverpool against a spirited West Ham United a year later, including a goal from 35 yards in stoppage time.

Gerrard is a man who thrives on leading his team, Hodgson played on this; the 32 year old has performed very well in each of our three games so far and is averaging an assist a game in the European Championships.

To collect seven points from the group games, against France, Sweden and Ukraine,  is a very good return and, lest we forget, before the tournament we were expected to fall at the first hurdle.

A quarter final against Italy awaits on Sunday, and whilst it will be incredibly tough, if we perform who knows what can happen.

Below is a video of the Wayne Rooney goal that secured England’s qualification as group winners.

@georgepowell8