Page 2 - England

Gareth Southgate announced his England squad this week ahead of the international friendlies against the Netherlands and Italy, and there were a few surprise names called up - one being Manchester United’s Ashley Young.

If you have watched him regularly throughout the season, then it’s not that much of a surprise, but to the outside viewer, they might well be asking why the England manager has recalled someone who last played for the Three Lions in 2013.

Young has been a typical Mourinho player since the Portuguese boss took over: hard working, never-let-die attitude, and the versatility to play in a number of positions when asked upon. Mourinho likes his players to have loyalty and the
Englishman has shown this through his open mindedness of playing in systems and areas of the pitch which were previously unfamiliar to him.

There have been a number of stellar performances shown by the former Villan, but none better and handled with more grace than the one against Liverpool last weekend.

17th November 2017.
With the World Cup just around the corner, there is a lot of excitement and hype bubbling on the surface of fans. It is not in full swing yet, given we are in November, but it is noticeable.

Like with any tournament England are enrolled in, there are expectations of the Three Lions to perform, and each time they seem to fail worse than the previous. The England fans are certainly at ends with England's senior team, especially under Roy Hodgson when England crashed out of the European Championships to Iceland, but Gareth Southgate might well start to change the reputation - slowly, but surely.

England Management

For England football, nothing appears to be a quick fix. England fans thought they hit the jackpot when a truly passionate manager in Sam Allardyce came along - only to find out the former Crystal Palace manager was sacked over a video which portrays Big Sam giving advice on how to circumvent the rules of third party ownership.

After Big Sam's sacking, along came

1st February 2017. By Danni Biggs.
Arsenal and England legend, Kelly Smith confirms her retirement from football at the age of 38. With 117 games, 48 goals for her national team Smith said with no regrets "I've travelled the world and, at the age of 38, the body is telling me it needs to stop."

Kelly, 38, was awarded an MBE for her services in football in 2008, also winning numerous accolades and individual honours throughout her career including the FA Women's Players' Player of the year in 2006 and 2007. "Kelly Smith is the best women's player England has ever produced, and one of the foremost players in the history of the women's game," said Johnathan Pearce on BBC Match of the Day.

Ending her Career on a High

'The game is in a magnificent place at the moment and it's good to step away at the right time.' Smith said.

At the young age of 17, Kelly made her debut for England where she was also awarded Player of the Match from her position on the left wing; just the start of Smith's successful

20th June 2016. By Edward Stratmann.
Heading into England's monumental contest with Wales, much of the talk centred around whether the Three Lions could stop Gareth Bale.

Having scored or assisted 10 of the 13 goals scored by the Welsh in qualifying, England definitely needed to pay close attention to the Real Madrid star if they were to give themselves the best chance of winning. Keeping the most expensive player in history quiet is, however, something that's obviously easier said than done.

Thankfully for England, though, courtesy in large part to their one and only holding midfielder, Eric Dier, they did a fantastic job of limiting Bale's impact.

Dier followed on beautifully from his man of the match performance against Russia by putting in an utterly composed and assured shift from his post at the base of Roy Hodgson's midfield in their stirring 2-1 win.

Whenever Bale ventured into his designated area of operation, Dier would be on hand to track the Welsh wizard. The 22-year-old made

10th June 2016. By Ryan Baldi.
In the build-up to a major international tournament, the impact of injuries is often felt, when it comes to squad preparation. This summer's European Championship in France has been no different, with high-profile names such as Germany's Marco Reus and Ilkay Gündo?an, and France's Raphaël Varane and Lassana Diarra, all ruled out through injury.

And over the years, England too have been hampered by some of their top men being hurt. In 2002 the Three Lions lost Gary Neville to injury, while his Manchester United colleague David Beckham faced a race against time to overcome a fractured metatarsal. At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Wayne Rooney's recovery from his own metatarsal break meant that he wasn't able to play from the start of a match until England's third group game against Sweden.

The same injury had put paid to Rooney's breakout Euro 2004 campaign, exiting the quarter-final tie against Portugal early after having had his foot trodden on by Jorge

18th May 2016.
With the summer's 2016 European Championship tournament getting closer and closer, it's time to start thinking about picking up a football kit or two to show support for your favorite national team. For teams that use Nike as a kit manufacturer, the American sportswear company has given fans a wider array of options to choose from with its latest batch of jersey releases. In addition to the obvious variations that are always there in the jersey market-home and away kits, jerseys and tees-Nike has also unveiled different kit varieties this year.

Nike's Two Jersey Types

On one side of the conversation, we have the Nike Vapor Match shirts. On the other side, there are the Nike Stadium shirts. Viewed independently, these two kits could easily be taken to the be the "official" jerseys for their respective teams (or perhaps as similar designs of the same team's jersey from different years). There are slight visual differences, but nothing as drastic as you would expect to see between

10th May 2016.
By virtually all accounts, the England national football team have a better chance at winning a European Championship title this year than they ever have before. Not only did the Three Lions sail through the qualifying rounds with a perfect record of 10 victories, but England also beat reigning World Cup champions Germany in a friendly fixture in late March. Add the fact that England has a considerable amount of soccer talent right now-with several sure-to-be-included players, such as Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane, peaking at the perfect time-and there's a definite possibility that the country's long international title drought could come to an end this summer.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed. Just about a month remains until the Three Lions take the pitch in France for their first Euro 2016 fixture. Manager Roy Hodgson and his 23-man squad-whatever that ends up looking like-still have plenty of preparation to cycle through before they can think about topping the podium. Below,

5th May 2016.
In December, Manchester United legend Gary Neville took on his first-ever head manager position at Valencia. On March 30^th, his tenure with the Spanish soccer squad came to an early and abrupt conclusion.

All told, Neville's dismissal from Valencia after a little less than four months in charge wasn't a surprise. The Bats have been in shambles for most of the season and Neville did little to put new wind behind the team's sails. At the time of his sacking, Neville's Valencia side had lost three La Liga games in a row, culminating in a 0-2 at-home defeat against Celta de Vigo.

The Win-Draw-Loss Record

Neville exits Valencia with the kind of unimpressive record that he will likely be trying to live down for several years to come. In total, he coached the Bats for 28 games. 10 of those ended in victory, seven in draws, and 11 in losses. Those numbers figure out to a 35.7% win percentage.

In the domestic league, however, Neville's average was worse. He failed to grab a victory

April 12th 2016.
Roy Hodgson has an unenviable task awaiting him. The manager, who has been in charge of the England national football team, is set to unveil his squad for the upcoming 2016 European Championship on Thursday, May 12^th. That date is weeks from the UEFA deadline of May 31^st, and considering some of the injury woes that England's top players are currently facing, it's a bit surprising that Hodgson plans on making his announcement so early. In fact, Hodgson is prepared to unveil his 23-man Euro squad before the 2015/16 Premier League campaign has even come to a close. England's top-flight will close out its season the following Sunday.

High Hopes for England

Still, even if Hodgson is making a show of confidence by finalizing his squad early, the 68-year-old head coach has plenty of reason to have jitters about his tough decisions. England won all 10 of their Euro qualifying games, only conceding three goals along the way. The Three Lions also enjoyed a hugely promising friendly

25th March 2016. By Karl Matchett.
Captain, record goalscorer, centurion of the national team for caps earned and an absolute guaranteed passenger on England's plane to Euro 2016-but Wayne Rooney continues to divide opinion over whether he really is part of the nation's best XI any more.

Roy Hodgson will have to do without his skipper over the upcoming friendly games, but with fixtures against Germany and Netherlands providing a good test of the team's current progress and how well they might expect to do at the European Championships, the boss has to use this opportunity to find a system which works in attack with the other options at his disposal. Not only that, if he does come across a combination which works particularly well, he must be prepared to take that into the Euros, even if it means leaving Rooney on the bench.

The forwards involved for the double-header include some interesting potential pairings.

A big problem with discussing who could work well together is that England don't