Lallana hopeful of starting berth

Adam Lallana hopes his efforts in England’s 3-0 win over Peru on Friday can secure him a starting spot at the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

The Southampton playmaker has burst onto the international scene this term after a fine campign at St Mary’s Stadium, making his England debut against Chile in November.

Lallana scored nine goals in an ever-present Premier League season, contributing another eight assists, and he has subsequently been linked with a host of top clubs including Manchester United and Liverpool.

England enjoyed a comfortable Wembley send-off against the Peruvians, goals from Daniel Sturridge, Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka capping a solid win.

Roy Hodgson’s men will now travel to Miami where they will face friendlies against Ecuador and Honduras.

But Lallana only has eyes for their World Cup opener against Italy in Manaus on June 14.

He said: “Getting in the starting line-up for the first game in Manaus is what everyone is striving for and hopefully I’ve shown the manager what I’m capable of.

“It was a good result and we move on to the next one on Tuesday.

“We’ve had a great week’s training, a good bit of fitness and worked in layers to try and adapt – though the weather’s not been too kind to us this week. The fitness of everyone’s looking good, we’ve not picked up any injuries, that’s the main thing.”

Goalscorer Jagielka hopes the squad can take plenty from their spell in Florida, as they look to aclimatise to the humidity they will face in the Amazon rainforest.

“I don’t think we’ll take too much into the next game I think the temperature and way the game will be in Miami will be slightly different,” the Everton man added.

“I think once we get to Miami the excitement will build a bit again. Once we get those two games out the way the real excitement starts.

“We’re going there for a reason with the temperatures we’re going to play in, Manaus will be similar so hopefully we can acclimatise pretty well.”

Jagielka and Cahill’s goals came from corners delivered by Leighton Baines and the full-back’s Everton team-mate believes they could prove a useful weapon going forward.

“I’ve been getting a bit of stick, I’ve not scored for Everton this year,” Jagielka added. “It would have been nice if I’d got a few more in the season but it was nice to get one today, it fell in the right place to tap it in but most importantly we won and kept a clean sheet.

“We always know Bainesy’s got a fantastic delivery and the boys get quite excited when he goes over to take one because we know he’s going to put it in a decent area.”