England and Hodgson stumble along the road to Rio

The “road to Rio” phrase is particularly apposite as coach Roy Hodgson prepares for back to back games in San Marino and Montenegro.

The Rio in question this week, of course, has been of the Manchester rather than Maracana variety, and the saga surrounding Ferdinand’s selection and subsequent withdrawal from the squad has led to the reappearance of perhaps the most frequently used word in sports journalism these days: “overshadowed.”

It has to be said that Hodgson’s handling of the affair has been more Keystone than Kissinger. He must have known that recalling a player after a 21-month international absence, during which the veteran of 81 England games was deemed less suitable for Euro 2012 than Liverpool’s uncapped Martin Kelly, was unlikely to be buried underneath the hockey results.

Nevertheless, a standard text from an FA liaison officer to the 34-year-old central defender informing him of the call-up was deemed sufficient.

Hodgson must have known that recalling a player after a 21-month international absence was unlikely to be buried under the hockey results.

Ferdinand’s subsequent withdrawal from the squad merely highlights the folly of this hands-off approach. Surely a few minutes on the phone would have clarified the finer points of the balancing act regarding his meticulous and complicated fitness and preparation routine.

Having established that the player was unwilling to travel on this occasion, Hodgson could have simply answered the inevitable selection issue questions by justifiably trotting out his much loved “footballing reasons” for omitting Ferdinand.

Instead the FA has yet another “mess of its own making” as the backdrop to five days which will go a long way to determining whether England reach the World Cup finals in Brazil next year. Given the contrasting nature of the two forthcoming fixtures, the task is akin to a Premier League club facing a non-league side in the FA Cup at the weekend ahead of a potential title decider in midweek.

Mountain to climb

Tonight sees England with a geographical, if not metaphorical, mountain to climb. San Marino, all 24 square miles of it, is nestled in the Italian Apennines and its entire population could sit comfortably inside Derby County’s Pride Park. Not surprising, then, that its national football team are by some distance the worst in Europe and, in global terms, ranked so low that they would only realistically have hotly contested fixtures against the Turks and Caicos Islands and Bhutan.

They have only ever won one international match, a 1-0 victory in a friendly against Liechtenstein in 2004, and once went nearly four years without scoring a goal.

San Marino will not so much put the bus in front of the goal as construct an entire coach park in their half of the field.

When England arrive at the tiny Stadio Olimpico in Serravalle, which is one of the only patches of flat ground amid the mountainous terrain, their opponents will not such much put the bus in front of the goal as construct an entire coach park in their half of the field.

Although Hodgson is facing a central defensive injury crisis ahead of the game, he might just as well field an upright pedal bin and a bar stool in front of Joe Hart, such is the Sammarinese side’s attacking impotence. The key figures will be the creative ones who can slalom through the stodge that makes up the home side’s rearguard. Even San Marino manager Giampaolo Mazza admits that he knows they will lose tonight, it’s just a matter of by how large a margin. 13 in the case of Germany in 2006.

Unbeaten against England

Montenegro is quite another matter. They are a small and nascent nation, but their heartland is a corner of the former Yugoslavia which has long been a source of rich footballing talent, and they have players such as Juventus striker Mirko Vucinic and Fiorentina’s much sought-after youngster Stevan Jovetic, who would grace any national squad.

They are also one of the few countries which can boast an unbeaten record against England, having drawn home and away in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, the latter a last-gasp 2-2 in their capital Podgorica after Wayne Rooney lost his marbles.

Discipline must be England’s watchword against Montenegro, who consistently punch above their weight in front of fiercely patriotic supporters.

Hodgson may be tempted to select very different sides for the two games, keeping legs fresh for the far sterner test against the Montenegrins, who currently sit two points above his men at the top of the qualifying group after four games and are full of belief that a first-ever major championship appearance can be secured at England’s expense. Four of his players, Ashley Cole, Joleon Lescott, James Milner and Jermain Defoe, are a booking away from a suspension and may be kept in harness for the bigger tie.

While patience will be the watchword against San Marino, discipline needs to be England’s middle name on Tuesday night against opposition who consistently punch above their collective weight in front of fiercely patriotic supporters. Any repeat of Rooney’s rashness in getting sent off on his last visit could be extremely costly, since defeat in Podgorica would make the task of qualification as steep as a San Marino footpath.

Hodgson’s lines of communication haven’t been great so far this week, but if he can get his players to negotiate two very different ties with equal calm and efficacy, it should be the Rio the place rather than Rio the person occupying his mind on the flight home.

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