World Cup qualifiers: Entire England squad takes part in training

Roy Hodgson will be delighted to be able to pick from a fit squad of players

Agency
Tuesday 08 October 2013 07:03 EDT
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Joe Hart pictured training with England
Joe Hart pictured training with England (GETTY IMAGES)

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Every member of Roy Hodgson's 23-man England squad trained this morning ahead of Friday's crunch qualifier against Montenegro.

Hodgson's preparations for the game at Wembley hit a setback on Monday when Ashley Cole was ruled out because of a rib injury.

Hodgson called up Kieran Gibbs to replace the Chelsea man and the Arsenal defender joined in with the rest of the squad at Tuesday's training session in Burton.

Hodgson will be hoping to have all his players available for the clash at Wembley, and the home game against Poland four days later.

The England manager is without Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Glen Johnson because of long-term injuries, but he does have in-form duo Daniel Sturridge and Wayne Rooney available after they sat out the last double-header.

Rooney was the first of the outfield players to emerge on a sunny morning at St George's Park.

He was preceded by England's three goalkeepers Joe Hart, Fraser Forster and John Ruddy.

Hart's place in the team has been under scrutiny after a number of erratic displays, but he looked sharp in practice this morning, pulling off a number of acrobatic saves.

England go in to the final two games at the top of Group H, just one point ahead of Ukraine and Montenegro.

The only way they will definitely qualify for Brazil 2014 automatically is if they beat both Montenegro and Poland.

The only victories Hodgson has masterminded in qualifying so far have come against San Marino and Moldova.

PA

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