Lampard blow deepens Hodgson's midfield concerns

Lampard blow deepens Hodgson's midfield concerns

Post categories: football

Phil McNulty | 19:23 UK time, Thursday, 31 May 2012

Frank Lampard experienced his highest high when he finally lifted the Champions League trophy as Chelsea beat Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena on 19 May - now he faces the grim reality that his England career at the highest level is over.

Lampard, who will be 34 in June, will know the thigh injury that rules him out of Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukrakine effectively means his days of representing England at major tournaments are over.

Chelsea's midfielder spoke with brutal honesty about what Euro 2012 meant to him when he faced the media at England's Hertfordshire headquarters this week, admitting: "It possibly is my last chance with England.

"I don't see myself retiring or taking myself out of it in the near future. But I'm no fool and I know that age is a factor and, at international level, you don't go on forever."

Comment :

I hink this is the last chance to him , but now that final opportunity has been taken away by an injury suffered in training on Wednesday, meaning bitter disappointment for a player who has been an integral part of England's planning at major tournaments since Euro 2004 in Portugal. Lampard has sometimes not received the full credit he deserves for his professionalism, maturity and his goalscoring ability while winning 90 caps. What he has achieved has often been lost amid the debate of whether he can play alongside new England captain Steven Gerrard at international level. And while he would, in all probability, have been on the bench for England's opening game against France in Donetsk on 11 June, few players in the squad would have been better prepared or more determined to take their chance when it presented itself. Lampard's injury may not only mean the end of his participation in Euro 2012. There is the real possibility it will be the end of his England career as Hodgson will inevitably look to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil once matters are concluded in Poland and Ukraine.a