(Manchester United News)
Manchester United stars Michael Carrick, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw, Chris Smalling and Wayne Rooney have all been named in Roy Hodgson’s England squad.
The Three Lions will host Lithuania at Wembley on Friday 27 March in a Euro 2016 qualifying match, before travelling to Turin for a friendly with Italy on Tuesday 31 March.
Carrick has not played for England since facing Poland in October 2013 and was left out of last summer’s World Cup squad. He was originally recalled for the November 2014 matches with Slovenia and Scotland but was unfortunately forced to pull out due to a groin injury.
Hodgson was at Old Trafford for United’s impressive 3-0 win over Tottenham at the weekend, when Smalling and Jones both contributed towards a clean sheet while Carrick and Rooney were on the scoresheet with first-half goals.
Speaking after the Spurs game, Smalling was optimistic that he and Jones could rekindle their centre-back partnership at international level. “I think we could play together for England,” the in-form defender told ManUtd.com. “I was saying after the game to Phil that it's been a little while since we played together - probably not since last season. We know what each other's games are. We understand each other’s games.”
