Roy Hodgson has claimed that England’s international with Scotland has lost much of its significance because of the way friendlies have been degraded by his predecessors, and the effects of a saturated football calendar. The meeting between the old enemies still holds the attention of fans – with 80,000 packing Wembley to see England win the first match for 14 years last August – but Hodgson said his focus was entirely on their qualification campaign.
“I’m afraid, these days, that friendlies, if they ever had any significance of true value, have certainly lost it during the course of the years,” said the England manager. “There’s no question of that. It was devalued when teams were making as many as 11 substitutions during the course of a game.”
One of Hodgson’s predecessors, Sven-Goran Eriksson, used substitutes liberally during friendly matches, swapping the entire 11 more than once.
“It’s a great game to play, a great occasion,. There will be lots to write about, historical facts; what England have done in Scotland and what Scotland have done at Wembley,” said Hodgson, of Tuesday’s international at Celtic Park. “There will be reams of paper. But, from my point of view, it is to qualify that counts, and friendlies are about opportunities to have a look sometimes at one or two players who you don’t play in the qualifier.”
Two or three of those who played in Saturday’s qualifier against Slovenia are expected to be sent home to their clubs before the Scotland game, with Hodgson having selected a larger than usual squad for the two matches for that reason.
Hodgson, who fondly recalls beating Scotland with Switzerland in 1992, to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, said that expanded qualifying groups, the increased importance of tournament football, and the emergence of the Champions League had robbed friendlies of their appeal.
“Even against Home Nations teams – even against Argentina, Brazil and Germany, which were once something quite incredible – they are ‘it’s only a friendly’,” he said.
With Scotland in with a good chance of qualifying for their first major tournament since the 1998 World Cup, Hodgson said he expected the encounter to be the opposite of the blood-and-thunder clashes of yesteryear. “Scotland are a footballing team. They have a lot of ball players – James Morrison, Graham Dorrans; I’ve worked with these guys,” he said. “They are good footballers and we’ve got good footballers. So it will be more of a fierce footballing contest than a fierce physical contest.”
