England manager Roy Hodgson has insisted that he is pleased with his side's preparation for their Euro 2012 opener with France.
Hodgson was appointed as the national team boss on May 1 while still in charge of West Bromwich Albion and has only had 40 days to ready his side for the tournament. Despite the lack of time, Hodgson is in an optimistic mood going into tonight's Group D test against Les Bleus.
"I'm happy with what we've achieved in these first 39 days," he said. "I don't think the players could have worked harder for me in the training sessions to become a team.
"You could say we haven't had as long as we would have liked to put the team together but, on the other hand, these lads have played with each other on many other occasions.
"I'm not convinced if we had had more time we would have been better prepared."
England face France in Donetsk, Ukraine today at 5pm (GMT) in their first Group D game.
Matt Cotton
