Roy Hodgson has no fears about filling Wembley for England’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers – so long as the national team play good football. The Russia 2018 Preliminary Draw saw the Three Lions paired with Scotland in Group F. However, apart from the home nations’ clashes, the other opponents are less than glamorous: Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta.
Hodgson insists all the England games can be a big attraction to fans – as was the case when the UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier against Slovenia in November drew a crowd of more than 82,000. Hodgson, who is anticipating a “fanatic” atmosphere for the Scotland games, said: “Wembley will be filled if the qualifying group is in any way tight, and it will certainly be filled if the England team is playing good football. “If our young players can continue to progress and excite the public we won’t have any problem filling Wembley.
Furthermore, these days our friendly matches are played against such top-quality opposition so we can fill Wembley on those occasions too, so I don’t have any reservations.” The atmosphere will be unbelievable. If anyone wants to see what a really fanatic football atmosphere is like I would invite them to Wembley when we play Scotland, or to the match up there.
Hodgson also believes extra interest in the group will be stimulated by the Scotland matches, the first competitive meetings between the sides since a EURO 2000 play-off in 1999, when England won 2-1 on aggregate over two legs. He said: “The Scotland fixture stands out as it’s the oldest rivalry among football nations, and if the friendlies are anything to judge by they will be very exciting games, and very tense and intense. The atmosphere will be unbelievable. “If anyone wants to see what a really fanatic football atmosphere is like I would invite them to Wembley when we play Scotland, or to the match up there, and they will see what passion-ate football support is all about.”
HODGSON WARY OF SLOVAKIA, LITHUANIA
England were top seeds in the draw and avoided both Italy and France among the second seeds – in fact they landed perhaps the easiest second seeds in the form of Slovakia, though Hodgson said they should not be underestimated. “Slovakia are doing very well at the moment, came out of Pot 2, and that will be an interesting fixture for us as we haven’t played them for a while,” he said. “When it comes to Slovenia and Lithuania we have very recent knowledge of playing them, which I think is advantageous, although having said that a year’s a long time in football and it could be a year-and-a-half before we play them and their teams could change enormously in that period of time.”
DOUBLE SELL-OUT
England won both their recent friendlies against Scotland, in 2013 and last year, but Scottish Football Association president Alan McRae said the competitive matches will be “a different ball game” under manager Gordon Strachan. McRae told Press Association Sport: “We have made steady process, Gordon has got the team playing – they are committed and organised and he has got them into great shape, so although individually our players don’t compare to England I think on the day they will. “I’m sure Gordon and his staff and players will all look forward to these two games. This will be a totally different ball game to the two friendlies. I think we could sell the stadium out twice over at least so from a financial point of view it’s very good too.”
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