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Tuesday Kickoff: Hodgson gets England job, De Jong injures Welbeck and more

Hodgson (Getty Images)

Roy Hodgson will be the next manager of England's national team.

Hodgson will be introduced at a Tuesday press conference at Wembley Stadium, according to multiple reports out of the UK, after emerging as a late candidate following months of speculation surrounding Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp.

The 64-year-old Hodgson, a long-time manager coming off his first full season with West Brom after a failed run with Liverpool and a successful reign at Fulham, becomes the successor for Fabio Capello, who stepped down from the post amid the John Terry captaincy controversy in February. 

Hodgson will guide the Three Lions in this summer's European championship in Poland and Ukraine, and according to a statement from the FA, he has a four-year deal. It will be his first foray into international soccer since 2007, when he was coach of Finland's national team.

Here are a few more stories to get your day going:

DE JONG TACKLE INJURES WELBECK

Nigel De Jong has claimed another victim.

The hard-tackling Manchester City midfielder injured Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck during their crucial derby on Monday, with Welbeck reportedly leaving Etihad Stadium in a boot to protect his ankle.

De Jong, infamous in U.S. circles to breaking Stuart Holden's leg in a friendly in 2010, caught Welbeck from behind with both chasing down a ball toward the end of City's 1-0 victory. The severity of the injury has not been disclosed, but the timing could be rough for Welbeck on a couple fronts. With United now in chase mode to win the Premier League, Welbeck, who has scored 12 goals this season, represents a capable complement to Wayne Rooney. The two figured to work up top for England in Euro 2012 summer as well, but that could be put on hold depending on the prognosis.

FALCAO WANTS TO STAY PUT

Few strikers in the world had a better season than Atletico Madrid's Radamel Falcao, but that does not mean that the Colombian international is looking to follow in the footsteps of his Atletico predecessors and secure a lucrative transfer.

Falcao, in his first season with Atletico Madrid after moving from Porto, reportedly wants to remain with the club no matter if it qualifies for the UEFA Champions League or not. With three games to go in the season, Atletico Madrid is six points out of a UCL berth but is also set to play for its second UEFA Europa League title in three years.

Falcao, 26, has scored 33 goals for Atletico Madrid, proving to be a worthy replacement for Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan, who left for Manchester City and Inter Milan, respectively.

GYAN POISED FOR PERMANENT UAE MOVE

Asamoah Gyan's brief time in the Premier League appears to be officially over.

Gyan, whose goal for Ghana eliminated the United States from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, is on the verge of a permanent move from Sunderland to United Arab Emirates side Al Ain, for whom he was on loan this season.

Gyan, who still has two years left on his deal with Sunderland, was loaned to Al Ain in September in a strange move a year after the club spent £13 million — a club transfer record — to get him from Stade Rennes. Gyan scored 11 goals in his time for Sunderland and 22 with Al Ain this season, and he reportedly wants to stay in the UAE.

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Do you think Hodgson is the right choice for England? Did you think De Jong's tackle on Welbeck was dirty? Would you like to see Falcao with a bigger club? What's your take on the Gyan situation?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Who also doesn’t really care if he has to go through a man to get the ball. If he didn’t know Welbeck was coming there was really no reason to slide. When your constantly sliding and playing the game on the ground you leave yourself open to the possibility of taking out others.

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  2. “but (sic)he sure as heck intended to get in the way”- Um, isn’t that a defender’s JOB? DeJong is a thug, but he’s blameless in this instance.

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  3. De Jong should be forced to play with bubble-wrap taped all over his legs and arms. It’s the only sensible solution at this point.

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  4. Maybe. Or maybe he will get a lot out of this England squad, like he got a lot out of the Swiss, Fins, Fulham, West Brom, and so on.

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  5. Asamoah Gyan is on 200,000 pounds a week salary at Al Ain. He will never make that kind of money at Sunderland or anywhere else in Europe. Obviously you’ve never seen football in the Middle East to make such ignorant and somewhat arrogant comment. Let’s see if someone will pay you 200k pounds a week – and without the British tax – if you won’t take it. Football there gets more followers than the US.

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  6. Hodgson is being set up to fail. England has no shot this Summer. He’ll be fired afterward and replaced by Redknapp for WCQ and WC 2014.

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  7. Mediocre? You’ve got to be kidding. He did well at Inter Milan, has coached at the International level on three different occasions and brought the Swiss team unprecedented success. His problems at Liverpool were Liverpool problems not his

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  8. Agreed. Definite foul. I think maybe Dejong did see Welbeck or at least felt his presence from the side. But clearly no intent to go after the player.

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  9. I think Hodgson could do really well for England. Sure his emphasis is shape and defense, but Capello was the same way: focusing on being a strong unit. Hodgson seems to do well with underdog teams, and sometimes I get the feeling that England is an underdog team with a favorites’ hype.

    -not saying their players aren’t amazingly talented; but it never seems to quite come together for them on the pitch. Might be better to accept that and play with a chip on their shoulder, if they can.

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  10. I believe I heard that it would cost the FA around 10 million to buy out Harry’s contract. Im not sure if that is dollars or pounds but still a significant sum that the FA may not have been willing to pay. I’m not saying this played apart in the decision but it may have and that’s really the only thing that I’ve heard so far.

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  11. I don’t think De Jong has ever intentionally tried to injure one of his victims. I just think he is a player who likes contact and hard challenges and can play out of control at times. Who also doesn’t really care if he has to go through a man to get the ball. If he didn’t know Welbeck was coming there was really no reason to slide. When your constantly sliding and playing the game on the ground you leave yourself open to the possibility of taking out other players.

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  12. Go to footytube and watch the entire replay, all the videos on youtube show just the moment their ankles are together.

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  13. This injury is about as unintentional as one can get. He slid just to knock the ball out of play and his legs got tangled with Welbeck’s.

    Totally inadvertent.

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  14. Sorry, as much as I can’t stand De Jong, I have to disagree with you. He didn’t come in from behind, they were side by side going after that ball, but Welbeck just got ahead of him as he was starting his slide.

    Even still, he DID NOT bend his his leg back, his leg came from where it was planted on it’s last stride, and it was the natural motion to go into a slide tackle.

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  15. Why didn’t Harry get it?
    Also, how many more intential injuries does Nigel De Jong get top give before he is banned?

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  16. Then why slide? He knew Wellbeck was there and whether or not it was as unruly as some of his past actions, it’s not surprising at all for him. Fair or not, he deserves the criticism.

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  17. Who cares who coaches England? The only requirement is to have a number of good excuses for when they get bounced from the tournament.

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  18. I don’t know… he came in from behind and bent his leg back to impede Wellbeck’s way to the ball… he might not have intended to injury but she sure as heck intended to get in the way. Either way the story line that has words “DeJong” , “injured” and another players name are starting to get real tiresome and something’s gotta give, (other than bones).

    Opponent clubs should demand that any club he lines up for sign a waiver saying they’ll pick up the contract expenses of any player he injures. That would fix this $hit in a hurry.

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  19. I dunno… think we’re going to be hearing variations of “Robo-Roy” from our cousins across the pond.

    I ave to say though, the brits are really good at the cut off your nose to spite your face thing, aren’t they? Redknapp is the perfect man for the job… but then I guess John Terry is the ideal captian…

    So much sabotaged/sullied talent.

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  20. This just in- The MLS disciplinary commitee has suspended De Jong for 3 friendly games and fined him $1000 for the non yellow card offense.

    When reached for comment Don Garber said – We would really like to have another team in NYC

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  21. What kind of pay packet is Gyan on? Is he close to making Balotelli money for him to play in a league where there are like 50 people in the stands? I’m sure its his dream in play in the UAE league.

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  22. Yeah, the English manager list is mind-bogglingly small. Redknapp, Pardew, Hodgson…..Allardyce? Hodgson isn’t more than a mediocre coach (ie, well-suited for scrappy, mediocre teams). Maybe he’ll do well with England — after all, the team isn’t really that good to begin with.

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  23. I agree. I hate DeJong but there was no intent to injure on that tackle. He didn’t go in studs up. It seems he rolled Wellbeck’s ankle more than anything else.

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  24. I agree on both points, Hodgson deserves it (since the FA inanely demanded an Englishman) and no manager is right for that circus.

    Maybe I’m wrong but I see another decent and uninspired performance coming from England this summer. And it WILL be fun watch the crying. 🙂

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  25. This one is not De Jong’s fault at all. When he started to slide Welbeck was still behind him and DeJong never saw him.

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  26. I dont know if any manager is the right choice for England, but Hodgson certainly deserves it more than anyone. Good Luck Roy,

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  27. I really hope Hodgson does well and proves all the naysayers wrong. He has been up for this job multiple times and finally has it. It is unfortunate that it has to come following the Liverpool episode because I don’t think he will get the support he needs from the fans or maybe even the players. Hopefully I am wrong and the players buy into his methods because I think if they play as a unit the way Hodgson likes to play they could do very well.

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