Roy Hodgson hopes to take 30-man squad to Portugal camp

Roy Hodgson says he expects to take a 30-man squad to England's training camp in Portugal for their final preparations ahead of Brazil.

The England Manager was speaking live on The Footballers’ Football Show England Special on Sky Sports 1 HD on Monday night and outlined his plans for the summer.

Hodgson must submit 30 names to FIFA by 13 May, but has until 2 June before officially confirming his final 23-man group.

And he says when they head to Portugal in May he could also tell the seven on the standby list who they are.

"We will definitely take 30 players with us when we go to Portugal, and probably keep those players until such time we play the final friendly in Peru.

"But what I think I would do, is to name 23, and I will name the seven that are going with us and make it clear to them that at the moment, they are not going to be in the final 23. In that way, of course, I suppose I put my cards on the table a little bit earlier."

He added: "We can’t take 30 players. We’ve got to take 23 players. The 30 that I name, we have the upmost respect for those players. We like them all.

"We think they’re good enough, we wouldn’t be adverse to having any one of the seven in our 23 but, unfortunately, a choice has got to be made."

Hodgson says he will have contingencies in place when naming his squad in case of any late changes and admits he'll only be certain of his final 23 when he has to submit his squad to FIFA.

"You probably, even at this moment in time, couldn’t name 23 players that you’d be perfectly happy with," he said.

"But it’s pointless because you don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then, but all the time you have contingency plans in your mind.

"It’s an ever-evolving business. Until the time comes when someone says, 'that’s it, crunch time is here, you’ve had plenty of time to think about it, you’ve seen lots and lots of games, you’ve been working with the players now, come on, what’s your 23', it’s better to let people enjoy the speculation, enjoy the fun of it, and we’ll take the responsibility when the day comes."

We'll have more from The Footballers’ Football Show England Special featuring Hodgson, England Coach Gary Neville, Club England Managing Director Adrian Bevington and former Three Lions boss Glenn Hoddle tomorrow.