ROY HODGSON DOES not doubt England’s desire as he responded to Gareth Bale’s claims that Wales and their passion cannot be matched.
As England and Wales prepare to lock horns in their blockbuster Group B clash in Lens on Thursday, Bale stoked the fire when he said Hodgson’s men “big themselves up before they’ve done anything”.
Hodgson was asked about with the Real Madrid star, whose Wales defeated Slovakia 2-1 in their opener, but the 68-year-old said England’s patriotism and passion cannot be questioned.
“Receiving disrespectful comments is part and parcel of being a footballer and a football coach,” said Hodgson, after England opened the tournament with a 1-1 draw against Russia.
“I don’t ever comment on other people. I’ve been in the game sufficiently long to know every opponent has got an opinion, the other day it was [Russia goalkeeper Igor] Akinfeev saying we were the worst seeded team and now it’s Gareth Bale.
“They can have those opinions but I don’t have any doubts personally about our patriotism or desire and that’s the important thing.
“If he believes that that’s the case, he’s welcome to that opinion.
“But we know who we are, we know what we are. We don’t have any doubts about ourselves in that respect.”
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“The Aviva Stadium is expected to be at a reduced capacity for the game, in the region of 27,000, although that could change in the event of exceptional demand” surely that’s how it is with moat teams? I’d imagine there will be a lot more of a demand than the 27,000 capacity anyway.
@Dave Murray: I would have thought that certain sections will not be used with restricted capacity, resulting in a smaller staff requirement. If they put all 52k tickets on sale, all sections will have to be available and therefore full match day costs applied.
@Paul Ennis: I get that, just thought it(a little)odd that they would announce a 27,000 capacity restriction before tickets are on sale to the public and see what the demand is etc. But I guess with a short turn around and Easter weekend it could be harder to shift 50,000 tickets and get staff in like you said.
@Dave Murray: EPRC also organising the game rather than Leinster, and they’re shit at running things.
Without being presumptuous – is the semi final
Draw already planned out?
@Daithi Mc Ghiollamhairtin: Yeah. Leinster/Leicester v Toulouse/Sharks and La Rochelle/Salarycens v Exeter/Stormers
@baz dunne: many thanks
@baz dunne: Salarycens hahaha
5 day turnaround with the knock on effect of potential reduced capacity due to the limited timeframe is a great reward for going through as top seed. This is an absolute joke
@Rob Doyle: Your prize for top seed is its at “home” or at least 10mins down the road from it, so be thankful you’re not coming from Welford Rd with a week to plan it!! it does feel too near, be better if a 2 week gap but all the teams that are through are in the same scenario regardless of they seeding. 27k is an average sized rugby stadium, crucially it’s circa 10k more than full RDS capacity, and the fans all know the weekends of the semis well in advance, if not the exact day. I’m not overjoyed by a half full Aviva myself but it is what it is.
Real shame it’s not in a packed RDS, a half full Aviva sucks.
I think we’ll Leinster, Sharks, Stormers, and La Rochelle in the semis.
@Brenda Collins: 3 from URC? they’ll be due an ol restructure soon enough so.