Roy Hodgson’s hoping for a reunion with Switzerland

 
REUTERS
James Olley17 October 2013

Roy Hodgson will be hoping to be drawn in the same group as his former side Switzerland after FIFA confirmed England would not be among the top seeds at next summer’s World Cup finals.

England climbed seven places to 10th in the latest rankings after successive victories over Montenegro and Poland but it was not enough to take them out of pot two for the group stage draw on December 6.

Hosts Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium and Switzerland have all been confirmed as first seeds.

Uruguay will be the eighth country should they win their play-off against Jordan next month, otherwise Holland will take their place.

Hodgson led Swizerland to the last 16 at the 1994 World Cup in the United States and into the European Championships two years later.

Their recent rise came after a relatively easy World Cup qualifying group, where Iceland and Slovenia were their biggest rivals and will be seen as the easiest top seeds to play.

Despite that, Hodgson still has great respect for their team.

He said: “When you manage your own country, you have the weight of your memories, the weight of your upbringing, all the people that you would be very anxious not to disappoint.

“There’s a lot of areas there that weigh more heavily when you are working in your own country. Switzerland, since my time there, since we qualified for 1994 and 1996, have gone on to do extremely well.”

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