Hodgson Investigates Manaus

I think a lot is being made of something that we simply can't control. Pre-draft Roy Hodgson said he wanted to avoid Manaus. Logically that is sound reasoning, with temperatures up to 30c and the humidity factor as high as 80%, no player in his right mind would want to play there.

So of course England were drawn into a group that has to travel to Manaus for their game. Hodgson's comments angered a lot of people in Manaus, and their mayor came out and said that England were not welcome in his city. A little over-reaction to a logicial opinion, Hodgson didn't say it was a bad city, that it was dirty, or boring, he just said he'd prefer not to play a 90 minute football match in extreme conditions.

So now we see another article from Hodgson basically saying that playing in Manaus is not ideal, really? However one good thing has come from it, Hodgson and his crack team of investigators will be traveling to Manaus in February on a fact-finding mission.

England will travel to Manaus on the 12th of June ahead of their game on the 14th. Personally, I would like to see them travel to Manaus much earlier than that to get a better feel for the climate. Regardless the Italians are facing the exact same conditions as we are, so there are no excuses to be had.