Dull diamond a worry for Hodgson

Ensconced in a luxury hotel in Chantilly, England is grappling with a diamond that does not shine ahead of its Euro 2016 opener against Russia.

Led by Wayne Rooney, England is the Group B favorite against Wales, Russia and Slovakia, but with time running out before the tournament starts, manager Roy Hodgson is still buffing dull spots in his team's tactics.

His midfield diamond failed to sparkle in last week's 1-0 win over Portugal and he was criticized by former England manager Glenn Hoddle for asking strikers Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy to adopt wide roles.

"The idea of playing two up front is so that there is movement off each other, with Rooney, as No 10, coming in from behind," Hoddle wrote in the Mail on Sunday.

"You want Vardy running in one channel, maybe Kane dropping in short, Rooney picking off movement on the back of their runs and coming in from deeper. That never happened."

Chris Smalling's late goal earned England a third consecutive win in its warm-up games, but there was no disguising the lackluster show.

Hodgson has also raised eyebrows by tasking Kane with set-piece responsibilities, despite him topping the Premier League with 25 goals for Tottenham Hotspur last season.

Hodgson defended the move by explaining that Kane has the best dead-ball delivery on the team.

Slovakia on scalp hunt

The manager also gave the tactical talk short shrift, telling journalists: "Formations don't win you games. Players win you games."

Hodgson's Wales counterpart, Chris Coleman, would dearly love for the tactics board to be his only source of anxiety.

Since securing qualification for a first major tournament in 58 years, Wales has gone four games without victory, culminating in Sunday's 3-0 loss at the hands of Sweden.

While the return of Gareth Bale as a second-half substitute in that game provided reason for optimism, Coleman has banished talk of the June 16 showdown in Lens with rival England.

"That game doesn't exist, the England game. It doesn't mean anything," he told reporters in Stockholm.

"The only thing that means anything is the Slovakia game. We're playing against a team that has been on a hell of a good run. They've won in Germany, they've just had a draw with Northern Ireland, who are also on a great run.

"It's all about that first game."

Slovakia could only draw 0-0 at home to Northern Ireland on Saturday, but Marek Hamsik and his teammates stunned world champion Germany 3-1 in Augsburg on its previous outing.

At the 2010 World Cup, Slovakia eliminated defending champion Italy in the group phase.

Four years later, Jan Kozak's side sparked its successful bid to qualify for Euro 2016 with a stunning 2-1 triumph over defending champion Spain.

Kozak was in bullish mood after the draw with Northern Ireland as he declared his players would not be overawed by the prospect of facing Real Madrid star Bale.

"Of course Gareth Bale is considered one of the best players in the world," he said.

"But I won't be asking for his autograph. I can tell you that by the end of our match, he will be asking for mine."

Russia has been hurt by injuries to several key players including Yuri Zhirkov, Denis Cheryshev, Oleg Kuzmin and, most damagingly, playmaker Alan Dzagoev.

Midfielder Igor Denisov was ruled out due to a hamstring injury on Monday, opening the door for Zenit St Petersburg's Artur Yusupov, who happened to be staying in the same hotel as the squad in Monaco.

"I was planning to fly back to Moscow today," Yusupov told a media conference in Paris.

"I didn't even have my football boots with me and none of my kit.

"I had to borrow from (teammate) Roman Neustadter."

England’s Chris Smalling arrives with a toy lion at Auberge du Jeude Paume, Chantilly, France on Monday. Lee Smith / Reuters

(China Daily 06/08/2016 page22)