England vs Australia. International Match.
Stadium of Light.
Friday 27 May 2016 18:47, UK
England face Australia on Friday night, with striker Marcus Rashford in line to make his debut for Roy Hodgson's side.
The England manager will oversee his players one last time at Sunderland's Stadium of Light before whittling his 26-man squad down to 23 on Tuesday.
The Three Lions sealed a narrow 2-1 victory over Turkey at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, but while the result would have pleased Hodgson, the performance was patchy, with question marks still hanging over the defence.
Chris Smalling, Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand will all be given chances to prove they should be in the starting XI when England face Russia in Marseille on June 11.
However, Liverpool forward Daniel Sturridge is struggling to feature due to the calf injury that forced him to miss training on Wednesday and Thursday.
"He has had a calf strain since he joined up with us," Hodgson said in his pre-match news conference. We've been hoping it will get better, we shall see tomorrow [Friday] morning whether there has been any improvement."
If Sturridge does not prove his fitness on Friday morning, then Hodgson confirmed that young Manchester United forward Rashford will make his international bow on Wearside.
"If Sturridge isn't fit tomorrow then I think you'll all work out he [Rashford] is going to start the game. I'm happy with that, I'm more than content he can handle the situation," Hodgson said.
Australia captain Mile Jedinak, meanwhile, could not rule out treating Rashford to a physical introduction to international football.
When asked if he would let Rashford know he was there in the early exchanges on Wearside, Jedinak said: "It remains to be seen. Players have different ways of putting about their presence on the pitch.
"Obviously I've played against him recently and he's done fantastically well. We've all seen his rapid rise in the last few months and it's a credit to the boy that he's been put in this situation and is handling himself really well.
"But we've been preparing for this game as we would normally, without getting too caught up with individuals."
Australia head coach Ange Postecoglou, who has British-based players including Preston's Bailey Wright, Massimo Luongo of Queens Park Rangers and Celtic's Tom Rogic at his disposal, will relish pitting his AFC Asian Cup holders against European opposition.
Apart from a 2-0 defeat to Jordan in October, the Socceroos dominated their last World Cup qualifying group, winning seven games. They have scored 12 goals in their last two matches.
"We're preparing for our World Cup campaign ahead," Postecoglou said. "It's an opportunity to improve as a team."
Team news
Wayne Rooney will not start against Australia and Chelsea centre-back Gary Cahill has had another injection in his hip and will miss out, but Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster will get the nod to start.
Opta stats
England have faced Australia six times on the international stage, winning three of those contests (D2 L1).
Australia's only previous win against England came in their most recent meeting back in February 2003, with Tony Popovic, Harry Kewell, and Brett Emerton bagging in the process.
England fielded 22 players in their only defeat to Australia; they've only used as many players in a single game on one other occasion since (vs Iceland in 2004).
The Three Lions have won each of their six internationals in Sunderland, the most recent coming in April 2003 when they beat Turkey 2-0.
England have won 10 of their last 11 games on home soil, the exception being a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands in March.
The Socceroos have scored 19 goals in their last four internationals (averaging 4.75 per game), conceding just once.
Tom Rogic has scored three times in his last two games for Australia.
Rashford (18y 208d) would be the second youngest debutant under Hodgson, with only Raheem Sterling making his England debut at a younger age (17y 341d v Sweden in 2012).
Betting
England are just 2/7 with Sky Bet to secure the victory on Friday evening, with Australia 9/1 to cause an upset, while the draw is priced at 9/2.
Tomi Juric is rated the visitors' main threat at 11/1 to break the deadlock, while Crystal Palace's Mile Jedinak is available at 28/1 in the Price Boosts to open the scoring.
Hodgson's men are currently 8/1 fourth favourites to win Euro 2016, with France (3/1), Germany (7/2) and Spain (11/2) heading the betting.
