Michael Carrick could have ligament damage, says Hodgson

Villarreal defender Gaspar said of his fabulous goal: “I tried to finish off the attack and the ball just went where it had to go. Stuart wasn’t so lucky”.

Hodgson said he had been on leadership courses with Lancaster and found him a “very interesting coach and leader”. “It’s got nothing to do with whether the RFU is doing the right thing or not”.

England also suffered two painful defeats to Chile and Germany this time past year when Hodgson made several changes to his team by handing debuts to the likes of Jay Rodriguez and Adam Lallana.

Mario Gaspar’s wonder goal inspired Spain to a 2-0 victory over England in an global friendly match.

“Spain were very good”.

However, England will take on La Roja without their captain and record goalscorer, Wayne Rooney.

But he has acknowledged he faces “a huge challenge” to keep his place in the face of an emerging generation of rivals.

England had two good chances in injury time, but a shot by Wayne Rooney grazed the crossbar and a tremendous save by Casillas denied Harry Kane.

“With Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott out injured, but in contention for Euro 2016, Rooney knows he can not be complacent – especially as he faces greater scrutiny than ever about his own form and fitness”, reports the Daily Telegraph. The game was pretty much as well expected and for 70 minutes I felt we held our own pretty well and, in fact, we were getting back into the game possession-wise when they scored. I want to prove myself.

Kane, joined on the field by Tottenham team-mate and England debutant Eric Dier, nearly put England in front against the run of play when he was allowed to clatter a 25-yard strike into the advertising hoardings.

Now Ross Barkley is the latest young firebrand from Goodison aiming to make an impact against Spain.

It’s certainly the best group of strikers since I’ve been involved in the squad. “We played against a very good team”.

It hasn’t been a positive season for many of their stars so far this year though, particularly those plying their trade at Chelsea with both Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa struggling to have their usual influence for the reigning Premier League champions.

“Yeah, I think (it was the hardest)”, said Kane, who was making his seventh appearance for his country.

“He is available and I hear my captain thinks he should play so I will give it a few thought”. “It was a special game for me”.

Hodgson’s words were inevitably still laced with if buts and maybes – “it is up to him … that whenever the team is announced he is a name I can not possibly leave out”.