Door Still Open For England Youngsters!

I have been trying to dig an article out from a couple of months ago, in it I'm nearly positive that Hodgson confirmed it would be hard for any of the upcoming youth to break into his team before the World Cup.....well now it seems as though the tide has turned and the door has swung open.

Speaking to the BBC, Roy was quoted as saying:

There is no problem with a lack of experience. He has the quality, but he's going to find there is stiff competition from others, including Ross Barkley.

"Ravel has just broken into the Under-21 side, whereas Ross has been in the Under-20 and Under-21 sides over a period of time.

"We think they will be exceptional players, but they have got to perform week-in and week-out, and make sure they are on that team sheet.

"If they can keep more experienced players out of the team then, come May, their names will be in serious discussion."

This is definitely a positive. I was starting to fear that England would take the same old squad to Brazil, get to the 2nd round and end up on the first plane home afterwards. I think Barkley in particular has been one of the best players in the Premier League this year, and has consistently performed at a very high level. You can't ask much more than that in a World Cup year, you have a young talent, brimming with energy, playing week in and week out for a team challenging for a Champions League place.

I do really like Morrison but I feel this may have come a year too early, I think he has all the talent in the World, but his decision making isn't up to the standard you would want at the moment, he tries to do a little too much and when I've watched West Ham, he has been guilty of losing possession far too easily....against the likes of Stoke, that's not always going to be punished, against Uruguay, it will be.

However it's not just the two central midfielders who have caught Roy's eye:

"You cannot ignore Raheem Sterling, who I saw playing brilliantly for Liverpool the other day, and [winger] Nathan Redmond of Norwich," said Hodgson. "And you cannot forget Wilfried Zaha, who a few months ago was on everyone's lips.

I'm a Norwich fans, so I'm completely biased towards Nathan Redmond, I think he is a fantastic talent that really injects pace into any attack and his final ball has been improving all season. He's a regular down the right and left flanks for Norwich and he's performing at a high level. Is he perfect? absolutely not, he stills runs into some dark corners now and again and sometimes a simple pass would be more efficient than putting your head down and running at a defender, but he is the future, along with Sterling, so getting them some playing time may not be a bad idea.

Zaha right now is a forgotten man, but when he joins a new team in January, if he starts banging in goals, he'll be back on the national teams radar. It's great for England to have so much emerging talent, however the important part is nurturing them properly, giving them tournament football experience and ensuring we place them in the best position to succeed at the next tournament.