Hodgson hails England’s potential

England manager Roy Hodgson is not getting carried away by their 3-2 friendly win in Germany on Saturday, but he has belief his players can enjoy a successful Euro 2016 tournament this summer.

The Three Lions’ youthful line-up stunned the world champions Germany in Berlin by storming back from two-down to win thanks to respective goals from the Premier League’s top scoring English duo Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy and an injury-time header from Eric Dier.

That win followed a 100% record in their 10 qualifying matches and a home friendly victory against France last November, while the preparations for this summer’s European Championship in France continues with a clash against the Netherlands at Wembley on this Tuesday night.

Hodgson is refusing to talk up his side too much given that many of the players have yet to experience a major tournament, while others were involved in the dismal 2014 World Cup in Brazil when England crashed out in the group stages.

But as he prepares to give Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge his first England start in 18 months and could hand Leicester midfielder Danny Drinkwater a chance to force his way into the Euro 2016 squad against the Dutch, Hodgson said: “I can only be boring and cliche-ridden in saying that I believe in the team. Absolutely.

“I believe we are going to be ready and I believe the players will go into games believing they can win them.

“And I believe they’ll go into the tournament believing they can do well but then for me to say this is what we’re going to do would be foolhardy and dishonest because I don’t know.”

England are 9.00 to win Euro 2016, while they can be backed at 1.75 to defeat the Netherlands on Tuesday. The Dutch are 4.75 to win and the draw is 3.50.