Intro:

Roy Hodgson denied on Tuesday (10th June) that Steven Gerrard is an injury concern ahead of England's opening World Cup fixture against Italy this weekend and praised the abilities of Azzurri playmaker Andrea Pirlo.

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Roy Hodgson, England manager: (on his younger members of the squad):

"We have a lot of potential, we have a lot of excitement, a lot of belief in this potential but I must advise some sort of caution because as yet players haven't had much chance in an England shirt to show that that potential can be realised. I personally think it will be but before we build people up too much and say how wonderful these young players are, let's see some very good performances in an England shirt first. We know they can do it. We believe they can do it but let's just calm ourselves down a little bit before we have world beaters in our squad because to be a world beater, you've got to put your international shirt on and play very well."