England to earn draw in Dortmund, Rooney and Walcott omissions explained - Kerry Dixon

21 March 2017 19:21

Kerry Dixon tips England to earn a worthy draw in Germany and explains why he believes Gareth Southgate has left out Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott.

Dixon, who scored twice against the Germans on his full England debut, will be giving personal punditry at Planet Hollywood on the game on Wednesday evening after an exclusive screening of his film Legends Lives.

Dixon is relishing the build-up to what he sees as an exciting game when he says: Everybody knows the history of the games with the Germans and England have had one or two decent results over there in recent years. I'm going for the draw, sorry to be boring and sitting on the fence, but a draw under the current circumstances with their calibre of players would be a decent result.

"I still think Wayne Rooney has a part to play for England and I'd keep him in the squad, but I can understand why the manager has left him out, but he is still the country's leading goalscorer, but we don't know how fit he is as he hasn't had much game time.

"Theo Walcott got taken off in his last Arsenal game and although I quite like him, those closer to him, his managers, will see more of him and they will come to their own conclusions about him.

"Theo has a decent scoring record this season but I can see the manager has decided to go with Rashford and Vardy.

"I'm not saying its because of a change in manager at Leicester, but Vardy's goal record has picked up lately and Rashford is getting more game time with United, so I can see Rashford and Vardy above Walcott in the pecking order, and the manager still has Jermain Defoe.

"Clearly England will miss their best player Harry Kane but Defoe has got his reward for what he's done this season for Sunderland, giving them a chance to stay up with his goals.

"He has returned from Canada to show that if your good enough it doesn't matter whether you are young or old, if you can do a job you deserve to be picked.

"He has certainly put himself into contention, as an England call up invariably is a reward for what you achieve on the pitch for your club over a season, and he has done remarkably well in a side fighting relegation.

"It is a big blow that Kane is out, he's been in great form but Rashford and Vardy are forwards I like very much. Vardy is pacy, works extremely hard, puts defences under pressure, Rashford played very well at Chelsea the other night, but has been in and out of the United side, yet he''s a good talent and going to be a star.

"I expect Gareth Southgate will stick with Rashford and Vardy, but Defoe might be involved in the mix, his goal record has pushed him into contention.

"Whether Rashford's a hardened international just yet that would be needed against Germany, clearly he isn't but sometimes strange things happen under strange circumstances and you never know the outcome even in Germany, so it's a game well worth watching, and could throw up more surprises.

"England are solid without being spectacular, but who knows it might be a night to remember against the Germans.

"It is always a passionate game even if its a friendly when Germany are involved, the sort of passion that's aroused we'd have when we played the Old Enemy, Scotland.

"England will be up against it in Germany, but I recall no one gave them a chance when Michael Owen scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 win in a magnificent performance."

*Join Kerry Dixon for his personal punditry on German v England at Planet Hollywood and his riveting Legends Life film. Book at midnightproductions.co.uk

Source: DSG