England coach Roy Hodgson drew encouragement from his younger players’ performances after his team’s 1-0 win over Denmark in its final game before he selects his World Cupsquad. Hodgson gave debuts to 18-year-old Southampton left back Luke Shaw and 19-year-old Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling was named man of the match inWednesday’s friendly at Wembley Stadium.
Adam Lallana, 25, and 23-year-old Danny Welbeck also impressed after coming on in the second half, with theformer serving 24-year-old Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge to head home an 82nd-minute winner.
“You couldn’t get me to say anything negative about any of the youngplayers on show today (Wednesday),” he said. “At one stage we only had Gary Cahill, Joe Hart, Glen Johnson and Steven Gerrard who would consider themselves seniors.The others were finding their way, and yet we still didn’t give Denmark a sniff at our goal.
“That’s a positive thing. I wanted the young players to have a chance to get out there and playat Wembley, and I’m sure Shaw and Lallana will go back to Southampton feeling very positive.”