England Manager Roy Hodgson Calms Leighton Baines Injury Fears
England manager Roy Hodgson says Leighton Baines, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Phil Jones will recover from respective injuries in time for the World Cup despite being forced out of the friendly with Peru.
Baines was replaced late on by fellow-Everton defender John Stones – who came on for his international debut – while Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jones were left out of the squad altogether with respective groin and shoulder injuries.
Hodgson had originally stated that Oxlade-Chamberlain, who hasn't played for Arsenal since April, and Jones would be fit for England's final home international before the finals in Brazil but despite missing the game the manager has calmed fears over the duo's fitness.
"They're gong to play on Tuesday [against Ecuador in Miami] they could have both played tonight," Hodgson clarified. "But I was determined that they would start on Tuesday.
"Initially I was only going to use four substitutes tonight but because the game was effectively over we thought it was better to do an extra training day."
On Baines, Hodgson added: "It was the calf. It was purely precautionary on our part.
"We could have kept him on but the game was far as I was concerned was basically over. The only question was were we going to score more goals. And there was no reason to continue with him.
"The most important thing was to come through the game unscathed injury wise."
Goals from Daniel Sturridge, Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka gave England a winning start to their warm-up fixtures before their opening group game against Italy in Manaus on 14 June.
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