Chelsea duo in line for England call-up

Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge and defender Ryan Bertrand have been highlighted by Roy Hodgson as two potential England stars who have benefitted from their Olympic experience.

The Blues hitman missed the vital spot kick in Great Britain’s 5-4 quarter final penalty shoot-out defeat to South Korea on Saturday but GB coach Stuart Pearce still backed the former Manchester City man to be a genuine contender for a place in the senior Three Lions side.

England will face Italy in a friendly on August 15 and chief Hodgson has previously stated an intention to select some players who were not central figures at Euro 2012.

“Most of them (GB players) are pretty much ready anyway, but one or two of the younger players like Bertrand and Sturridge and players like Tom Cleverley, who is coming back from injury, may have not been quite so much a fixture in their teams,” Hodgson told FATV.

“Let’s hope the Olympic experience with Team GB has given them a better chance of staking a claim for a regular spot.”

Chelsea stars John Terry and Ashley Cole are two of the senior players that are likely to sit out the friendly.

“There will be players involved in that game who weren’t part of the Euros and I’m sure Italy will make changes too, so it won’t be two similar line-ups but it will be quite interesting to play so soon after our elimination against them,” Hodgson said.

The England coach watched Team GB in action twice during the Olympics and he will also be at Villa Park for Sunday’s Community Shield encounter between Manchester City and Chelsea.

“It’s been more difficult than usual (to watch players) this year because the clubs have travelled so far,” said Hodgson.

“Most of the top clubs have travelled to places like America, China and South Korea so it has been difficult to keep tabs on it.

“But we’ve done the best we can over the last couple of weeks before Friday’s squad announcement and I will manage to see some matches.

“I will be relying on what we know about the players and using the information and the knowledge that we used before picking the Euro squad to pick a squad for this one.”