Brazil 2014: 4 Days to go
England were held to a 0-0 draw in Miami in their final warm-up match before travelling to Brazil. The match we interrupted by a lightning storm when the referee removed players from the field for their safety. Group E members were reduced to 10 men when Beckeles was dismissed on 65 minutes.
Commenting at the airport England Manager Hodgson was pleased by the run-up to the tournament. He said:-
It has been three excellent weeks of preparation. The squad is growing stronger, they are bonding together very well and the mood is one of quiet optimism and a reasonable degree of confidence.
That is all you can hope for. Now is when the real football begins and I am happy that we are in good spirits and the players have really done as much as we could ask of them.
Romelu Lukaku came off injured in Belgium’s friendly 1-0 win over Tunisia. He is expected to be fit for their Group H opener on 17th June.
Roy Hodgson has confirmed that Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain will play his part in the World Cup after recovering from his knee injury. Hodgson said:-
Everyone is fit. Oxlade-Chamberlain is making good progress. I think he’ll make the tournament without a shadow of a doubt.
Argentina eased to a 2-0 win over Slovenia despite resting some of their start players.
Ricardo Alvarez scored the first goal and Lionel Messi added the second after coming off the bench.
Saturday’s results
Colombia 3-0 Jordan
Croatia 1-0 Australia
Japan 4-3 Zambia
Costa Rica 1-1 R. of Ireland
Greece 2-1 Bolivia
Mexico 0-1 Portugal
Estonia 2-1 Tajikistan
Hungary 3-0 Kazakhstan
Argentina 2-0 Slovenia
Belgium 1-0 Tunisia
El Salvador 0-2 Spain
England 0-0 Honduras
USA 2-1 Nigeria
Fixtures
Sunday 8th June 2014
Trinidad and Tobago V Iran 17:00
San Marino V Albania 19:30
France V Jamaica 20:00
Tuesday 10th June 2014
Ghana V South Korea 00:00
Wednesday 11th June 2014
R. of Ireland V Portugal 00:45