Jamie Vardy: England striker out of Australia friendly due to wedding plans

Roy Hodgson has defended his decision to leave Jamie Vardy out of his plans for England’s friendly against Australia on Friday due to the Leicester City striker arranging his wedding 48 hours earlier.

Vardy, who scored the winning goal in England’s 2-1 victory against Turkey at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, is set to be married in Cheshire on Wednesday after cancelling his wedding last summer in order to make his international debut against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

But despite the 29-year-old insisting to Hodgson that he is prepared to return to the squad to play in the friendly at the Stadium of Light, the England manager is ready to plan for the game without Vardy in order to hand match time to the likes of Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge and Marcus Rashford.

“Jamie will now celebrate his wedding on Wednesday, so we won’t see him for a few days,” Hodgson said. “But we will have more competition when Rooney, Rashford and Sturridge turn up on Monday.

“Vardy won’t be involved on Friday because he is getting married on Wednesday.

“His wedding was planned for last June, I called him up for friendlies and he cancelled it, so he is within his rights to get married on Wednesday.

“The public might be surprised, but the major reason for it is because he had to cancel the wedding last year.

“It was more difficult for me to see it as an issue than maybe it would have been to complain about this date.

“Under normal circsumstances, Wednesday would be when we would join up and, when he planned the wedding, he probably expected ten days off first before coming back for international duty

“But we know Jamie, we are satisfied with him and I don’t think his place is under serious threat, so it hasn’t caused me too many problems.”

Hodgson will assess the fitness of Manchester United forward Rashford when he reports for training at Manchester City’s CFA Campus on Monday, with the expectation within the England camp that the knee injury suffered by the teenager during the FA Cup Final on Saturday is not a serious one.

But although Vardy and Harry Kane scored a goal apiece as England defeated the Turks, Hodgson insists that the arrival of Rashford, Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge on Monday will intensify competition for attacking positions.

“Kane and Vardy will face more competition when Rooney and Sturridge and Rashford turn up,” Hodgson said.

“The United and Liverpool players will be involved if fit and as for Rashford, I believe it is not a serious injury, but we will have to wait and see when he turns up.”

England, meanwhile, will face Australia in Sunderland after ending Turkey’s two-year unbeaten run at the Etihad.

“There were some positive aspects, large swathes of the game we played reasonably well,” Hodgson said. “There were also positives for me in that it shows we are not the finished article and there is still work to be done.

“When you play against a team of Turkey’s quality it shows these next three weeks are going to be vital in trying to make certain that we can stay compact at all times and make life easier defensively.”