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Roy Hodgson says England's Daniel Sturridge and Wayne Rooney will strike fear into Germany

Image: Sturridge and Rooney: An exciting partnership

Roy Hodgson believes England's forward partnership of Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge will strike fear into Germany's defence.

Asked about competition at left-back, with Leighton Baines applying pressure on long-time first-choice Cole, Hodgson insisted he is happy with the competition for places throughout the squad. "It's not just at left-back, there are more and more positions where the competition for places is really hotting up," Hodgson said. "That's how it should be and that's why we're in this fortunate position to choose almost two totally different teams, one to play against Chile last Friday and one to play against Germany now on Tuesday where we're not stressing the same players over and over again." Hodgson hopes the competition will continue ahead of the World Cup finals next summer as he bids to improve England further. He added: "The challenge is going to be to some extent making certain that we've got the right squad of players going to Brazil and there's some sort of balance in that squad, so players complement each other. "Handling the competition for places is another factor which we'll have to take into account, with three matches in a week in tough climatic conditions. "The most important thing is that I'm very pleased with the team. We have a group of players who are constantly satisfying me in terms of their attitude, the way they approach their work and their business."

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