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Wednesday Kickoff: Terry in, Ferdinand out for Euro, Tuzos tab Sanchez & more

RioTerry (Getty Images)

Roy Hodgson's tenure as England national team manager is off to a controversial start.

Hodgson named his squad for Euro 2012 and has included the likes of John Terry, Stewart Downing and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain while leaving out Rio Ferdinand, Daniel Sturridge, Aaron Lennon, Darren Bent and Michael Carrick, among others. Terry will not captain the squad, though, as that distinction goes to Liverpool veteran Steven Gerrard.

The inclusion of Terry and omission of Ferdinand is the biggest talking point considering that Terry is set to stand trial for allegedly racially abusing Ferdinand's brother, Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, and the FA's decision to strip Terry of his captaincy ultimately led to Fabio Capello's resignation as coach. Rio Ferdinand is not even on the alternates list, which includes Sturridge, Adam Johnson, Phil Jagielka, Jordan Henderson and Jack Butland.

Wayne Rooney, suspended for the first two games of the tournament, spearheads the attack, but the combination of Andy Carroll, Jermain Defoe and Danny Welbeck will be called upon to get the Three Lions through opening games against France and Sweden before Rooney returns for the group finale against co-host Ukraine.

England's full squad and a few more stories to kick off your day are after the jump: 

ENGLAND EURO 2012 SQUAD

GOALKEEPERS: Joe Hart (Manchester City), Rob Green (West Ham), John Ruddy (Norwich City)

DEFENDERS: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea)

MIDFIELDERS: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Stewart Downing (Liverpool), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Scott Parker (Tottenham), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Manchester United)

FORWARDS: Andy Carroll (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Welbeck (Manchester United)

SANCHEZ TAKES PACHUCA COACHING JOB

When Jose Francisco Torres returns to Pachuca after U.S. national team duty this summer, he'll be returning to play under a new coach, but one with a storied past.

Former Mexico national team coach Hugo Sanchez was named Pachuca's new manager, replacing Efrain Flores. He has not coached since guiding Spanish side Almeria for a short time after coaching El Tri from 2006-2008, a stint in which he was fired before he could complete the path to Mexico's qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

DUSSELDORF PROMOTED

Fortuna Dusseldorf is back in the Bundesliga for the first time in 15 years after defeating Hertha Berlin in their two-legged playoff with Tuesday's 2-2 draw sealing a 4-3 aggregate victory.

As a result Hertha Berlin, the club that employs U.S. national team call-up Alfredo Morales, will return to the 2. Bundesliga after a season in which Morales made 10 appearances in all competitions but none in the playoff.

Dusseldorf joins Greuther Furth and Eintracht Frankfurt as teams going up, while Berlin will accompany Cologne and Kaiserslautern as teams making the drop.

DANISH LEAGUE TO TEST GOAL-LINE TECHNOLOGY

Games in Denmark featuring Americans Conor O'Brien and Michael Parkhurst will be used to test goal-line technology later this month.

The Silkeborg-Sonderjyske match and FC Nordsjaelland-AC Horsens match will both be used to test the GoalRef system, one of two that FIFA is considering to implement. The other system, HawkEye, is being tested Wednesday at a lower-tier match in England.

A final decision on which system to use is expected at the beginning of July.

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What do you make of Hodgson's decisions? What do you think of Sanchez returning to coach Pachuca? Which of the promoted German teams do you think has the best shot at staying up? Excited to see the goal-line technology process progressing? 

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Better Gerrard than that complete d-bag Terry. If it were up to me Parker would be captain, he has been lately and I don’t see what he’s done to lose that role. I would also take Rio instead of Terry, Richards instead of Glen Johnson and possibly A. Johnson or Lennon instead of Downing who has done nothing this year

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  2. I’ts pretty simple.. the Premier League is the main foreign league marketed toward Americans, thus the most popular league among Americans. All of these players play in the PL, so by the transitive property the England team gets a lot of attention here

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  3. maybe he’s not trying to send any message, just picking the (marginally) better of the two veteran defenders. If I were manager, I wouldn’t take either; but out of the two? i’d have to go with terry.

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  4. Interesting that the English team is made up of 100% Premier League players. Yet people question whether they will make it out of the first round. Very insular…maybe a couple of the England “stars” should play in La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A…and see how the rest of the world does it.

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  5. My favorite part is Steven Gerrard as Captain. Roy come on you have been there and done that once and it didn’t work for you at Liverpool. Good luck mate.

    Nice thing is the English fans don’t have any expectations so it will be hard for England to under achieve those expectations. Personally don’t give a crap how they do.

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  6. I’m guessing they’ll lineup like this in a 4-5-1:

    Hart; Jones/Terry/Cahill/Cole; Barry/Lampard; Parker/Gerrard/Young; DeFoe

    The interesting tidbit will be how well Hodgson gets this squad to play with passion like a team, which has been their problem in the past. I think he will guide them far.

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  7. +1. Colonialism is hard to shake…which is why England team news makes (minor) headlines in US. Look at US soccer websites (e.g. FSC), majority of headlines of England related…with an occasional Barca/Messi headline. EPL is currently best league…but not sure how to justify the attention England national team gets in US.

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  8. Who cares who Engand selects? They have a knack for imploding in international tournaments. It’s always fun to watch, though. Their 1966 glory is the only thing they can hang their hats on. They live in the past. This will be other tournament in which they fail to deliver despite the hype.

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  9. I honestly don’t think they will get out. I think France wins the group and Ukraine, being the hosts, will place second. This English team is average.

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  10. It’s their team, not mine. Having said that, I have always preferred Lennon to Walcott, and Sturridge to Welbeck. Bent is a tough omission, but I can see how the roles leave him off. Carroll probably works better with Rooney, and Defoe is a better choice striker. I would take Terry over Ferdinand, if only because he can score. Is he a cancer? I dunno, but Chelsea did make the UEFA final. You could say that was because he was off the pitch, but I wouldn’t.

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  11. England wasn’t going to do much with their full squad as it was. With this team, they’ll be lucky to make it out of the group stage.

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  12. “I left all the big guns at home to keep you all from having overblown expectations. Plus, they all said, no thank you. And John Terry’s dad threatened to toss my salad if I didn’t call him.”

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  13. Stewart over Sturridge is not that surprising, really. Sturridge is still pretty much untested on the national level. It’s probably a wise decision to go with the more experienced player.

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  14. Well, ****. That’s two young Yanks dropping to the 2.Bund

    Maybe we can hope their squads have to sell and play with youth next year…but Germany is known for having tight financial standards, so there wouldn’t seem to be a desparate need yo sell as often happens in England.

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  15. Picking from 3 strikers who are second choice for their CLUB teams in the first 2 group games. This is a mediocre roster at best. Everyone will have a good laugh when England starts Carroll up top alone and wonders why they don’t score.

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  16. Should have left Terry and Ferdinand at home. Terry is a cancer. Ferdinand is to injury prone. I also would have included Sturridge and Micah Richards.

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  17. That is a pretty mediocre team. If they get out of the group stage they are one and done. Another snub was Micah Richards, I’m very surprised he didn’t make it, even though it looks like Zabaleta replaced him as a starter for City. I guess I can see Carrick not making it, but Terry over Ferdinand? I really don’t see it, unless Hodgson is worried he’d be a potential injury concern. And seriously, Downing? At least Jordan Henderson didn’t make it, then I’d really be flabbergasted…

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  18. Without Rooney that English lineup will not frighten many teams.
    It’s interesting to see that Hodgson chose Terry over Ferdinand. What message is he sending? Following on Daglish’s ‘adamant support’ of Suarez…you wonder if English Football just ‘don’t get it’.

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  19. I cannot believe Stewart Downing is in this team! Adam Johnson didn’t get a ton of game but I would have taken him, but more importantly . . . Stewart Downing over Daniel Sturridge? I am at a loss. Terrible.

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