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Angry Hodgson defends woeful England’s play
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ENGLAND manager Roy Hodgson mounted an impassioned defense of his team after it labored to a 1-0 victory over Norway in its first game since the World Cup.
Wayne Rooney marked his first match as captain with a decisive 68th-minute penalty, but it was one of only two shots on target that England mustered during a low-key friendly at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday.
Only 40,181 fans — less than half of Wembley’s capacity — turned up to watch England produce an uninspired display four days before its first Euro 2016 qualifier away to Switzerland, but Hodgson refused to succumb to the mood of apathy.
“Two shots on target? Don’t give me that one,” he snapped at a journalist during a tetchy post-game media conference.
“What about all the shots that people (Norway’s defenders) threw themselves in the way of? What about the little ball when (Daniel) Sturridge is played in, lobs the goalkeeper, lands on the crossbar? Don’t hit me with statistics. When we had that much possession, and you want to talk to me about two shots on target?”
Danny Welbeck, a replacement for Rooney, was the only other England player to test Norway goalkeeper Orjan Haskjold Nyland with a shot on goal. While the new Arsenal striker caught the eye following his introduction, Hodgson admitted that Rooney had not had one of his best days.
“It was a big night for Wayne,” said Hodgson, who also handed debuts to Aston Villa’s Fabian Delph and Arsenal’s Calum Chambers.
“There was a lot of responsibility weighing on his shoulders, not least with the penalty, which he had to take and knew he had to score to secure the win.
“Wayne will tell you he can play better than that and have better games. But you’re not always going to give the best performance and you don’t become a bad player if you don’t put in the performance you wanted.”
In a repeat of World Cup final, Argentina spoiled the party for world champion Germany by hammering the world champion 4-2 in a friendly in Duesseldorf.
Record signing
Manchester United’s record British signing Angel di Maria scored one and made goals for Sergio Aguero, Erik Lamela and Federico Fernandez as Argentina won its first game since losing to Germany in Brazil.
Andre Schuerrle and Mario Goetze replied but Germany was brought crashing down to earth by a ruthless Argentina display in what was Gerardo Martino’s first match in charge of the South Americans.
Martino, who filled the vacuum left when Alejandro Sabella declined the offer of a new contract after the World Cup, said the victory should not be over-hyped.
“They were missing a lot of players and also had three players who retired,” said Martino, who left the Barcelona job after just one season at the end of the last campaign as they ended without a trophy.
“That’s not easy to try to find a new team. Di Maria was more prominent than he was in the World Cup.”
His German counterpart Joachim Loew refuted suggestions that Argentina had avenged the defeat in the final. “It can’t be revenge. You can’t repeat the final,” said Loew.
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