LONDON: After a dismal World Cup, England will enter an uncertain new era today when they tackle Norway in a low-key friendly game at Wembley Stadium.
Manager Roy Hodgson has called up four uncapped players in Calum Chambers, Danny Rose, Fabian Delph, and Jack Colback, but following England’s group-stage elimination in Brazil, supporter interest is at a low ebb.
With several players missing due to injury and with former stalwarts such as Frank Lampard and captain Steven Gerrard having retired, the Football Association expects a record low crowd of around 35,000 for the game.
The match nonetheless serves an important purpose, with Hodgson’s side due to open their 2016 European Championship qualifying campaign away to Switzerland, their main Group E rivals, in Basel on Sept 8.
The fixture will also see Wayne Rooney lead the team out for the first time since being appointed captain.
Amid all the novelty, midfielder Jordan Henderson has urged his teammates to seize the chance of a fresh start.
“This is the first time the group has been together since the World Cup, so I think we’ve got to deal with it and put it to bed now and move on and look towards the future,” said the Liverpool player.
“Obviously overall it was very disappointing because we came home far too early, but we’ve got to look at some of the positives as well and hopefully use them to move forwards and start a new chapter.”
Like England, Norway are rebuilding after missing out on a place at the World Cup.
Manager Per-Mathias Hogmo named a youthful squad for the friendly against England and Norway’s opening Euro 2016 qualifier against Group H rivals Italy in Oslo on Sept 9.
But there was no place for 15-year-old Stromsgodset sensation Martin Odegaard, who became Norway’s youngest ever player when he started against the United Arab Emirates in a goalless friendly last week.
Norway have won only one of their 10 games under Hogmo, who was appointed a year ago, but he feels that they are moving in the right direction.
“If you look at the results this year, they’re actually quite good,” he said.
“We’ve played six games this year: three with a domestic squad, with which we’ve gained a win, a draw and a loss.
“And we’ve played against three top nations, including a draw against Russia and a draw away to the Czech Republic with a diminished squad.” AFP