Football. Hodgson encouraged by England's talent pool

The head coach has been attending a number of Premier League games as he continues to monitor those eligible to travel to Brazil, and says he is open to a surprise youngster

England manager Roy Hodgson is encouraged by the domestic form of English players and says he has a "headache" ahead of the World Cup.

The former Liverpool and West Brom manager has been viewing games across the Premier League as he tries to decide upon a 23-man squad for the tournament, and is pleased by what he has seen.

The likes of Tottenham's Andros Townsend and West Ham's Ravel Morrison have risen to prominence this season, and Hodgson concedes he faces a welcome dilemma.

Speaking to Sportmasta News, he said: "At the moment, I've seen a lot of our England players and contenders for England places playing extremely well. I wish I could bottle up some of the form and keep it.

"It's quite fascinating at the moment going to games. The number of players getting games, especially some of the youngsters, is good.

"There are a lot of teams fielding English players in their line-up at the moment and I'm seeing a lot of good performances. If I had to pick a team for the World Cup today, it would be a major headache."

England will be aiming to do better than their previous World Cup venture, when the side were beaten 4-1 by Germany in the round of 16.

England were handed a tough draw, with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica all in the same group but Hodgson, believes the team are capable of progressing from the pool.

He added: "We had an equally tough group in the Euros and we got out of that group and got ourselves to the quarter-finals.

"We believe we can do it. There are no easy groups in the World Cup."