While much of the attention was focused on Ashley Cole temporarily assuming the role of captain, England manager Roy Hodgson last night spoke of his "admiration" for Irish boss Giovanni Trapattoni ahead of this evening's friendly between the sides at Wembley.
Hodgson, who has known Trapattoni since the late 1980s, said the Italian has the best CV of any manager in the game.
“Giovanni and I go back a long way, even before when I moved to Italy. It goes back to the Malmo-Inter matches in 1988 and 1989. I regard him as a man whom I’ve got enormous admiration and respect for,” said the England boss.
“His CV is probably the best of any active manager, working today . . . He’s an outstanding coach, an outstanding manager and perhaps even more than that, he’s a very good person. If I was a footballer, I’d love to have played for him. Not just because what he would have taught me, but because I’d have enjoyed being in his company.”
'Long is a very good player'
Hodgson was also complimentary about striker Shane Long, who played for him at West Brom. He said he expects him to give the English defence a "good test", even if he hopes the Tipperary man isn't at his best. He also thinks Long is going to improve further in the coming months and years.
Hodgson signed him from Reading in August 2011, with the striker proving an instant success at the Hawthorns, but their relationship was cut short when the manager departed to take up the reins with the national side the following April.
“Shane Long is a very, very good player,” he said. “I was delighted we signed him at West Brom . . . he’s a player who’s getting better and better. In the Premier League, he is still relatively young; he came into pro game relatively late. He’s had a meteoric rise but I think there’s big, big margin of progression in him. But I hope he’s not going to produce the form I know he’s capable of because if he does, he’s going to give our centre-backs a good test.”
The bulk of the questioning, however, focused on the decision to award Cole the captaincy on the night he receives his 100th cap (though it will be his 102nd appearance).
There was no problem with the actual awarding of the armband, but Cole's decision to swerve the customary pre-match press conference, with Frank Lampard stepping into the lurch instead, meant Hodgson had to field over a dozen questions on the Chelsea defender and his relationship with the media.
“As far as we’re concerned, you all know Ashley’s reticence to come out and speak with you . . . We all thought that, seeing this was the night he’s going to be presented with his cap and there’ll be 80,000 people there, we’d tell him ‘you wear the armband’.”
On Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, Hodgson refused to be drawn on speculation over the striker's club future.
“You’re asking me to comment on club football and a player’s status within his club, but I can only talk about Wayne and how . . . he behaves during our get-togethers.
“I find his desire strong if not stronger now than when we first met. I’ve nothing other than the greatest faith in him . . . My faith, which has been very strong in Wayne Rooney, has never wavered.”
