England players take part in a training session at St George’s Park, Burton-upon-Trent, ahead of their UEFA Euro 2016 Group E qualifying against San Marino in Serravalle. (AFP)

DPA/London


England may stand on the verge of qualifying for Euro 2016 but that’s not enough for manager Roy Hodgson. The English have a 100 per cent record in the qualifiers and another win over minnows San Marino tomorrow will book their place in the championship with three matches remaining.
Hodgson, though, isn’t settling for just reaching France and challenged his team to take the next step when they met up earlier this week. “He just said we can either go one way, keep winning and stay the way we are, or we can go up another level in our performance,” midfielder Jonjo Shelvey said. “There’s no reason why England with the players we’ve got in this country can’t go to the European Championship and win it. And that’s what Roy Hodgson wants us to do and what we want to do.”
Dating back to their final game at last year’s World Cup, where they crashed out at the group stage, England are unbeaten in 11 games and have outscored the opposition 23-5. They top Group E with the maximum 18 points, six more than second-place Switzerland, and are just 90 minutes away from being one of the first teams to qualify for the Euros.
“It’s important to learn from mistakes you make, obviously at the World Cup,” winger Theo Walcott said. “Six wins out of six, you can’t get better than that. Now it’s all about focusing, finishing the job and the next step is the Euros - we want to be part of the history books.
“It’s all about results when it comes to the tournament. No-one remembers the winners in the qualifiers sections, it’s always about the next game.”
And that next game in Serravalle should be a walk in the park, on paper at least, if past history is judged. England have never lost in five previous meetings with San Marino, scoring 31 and conceding just once. That includes a 5-0 win at Wembley Stadium during this qualifying campaign last October.  A footnote to the match will be England captain Wayne Rooney’s pursuit of Bobby Charlton’s national scoring record. The Manchester United striker needs two goals to pass Charlton’s mark of 49. He’s scored five times in qualifying, including once in the first meeting with San Marino.
“For me he’s the best English player in England,” Shelvey said. “He’s a tremendous player. I’m sure if I play I’ll try and set him up for those two goals, but he’s a great player and hopefully he can do it. He’ll do it in time, but I’m sure he wants it dead and buried and just get the record.”
England host Switzerland on Tuesday at Wembley and even though they may have already qualified Hodgson said they must stay focused. “The players must keep going, play well and look to win every match,” Hodgson said in naming in squad on Sunday. “I don’t want any let up and we want to win both these games.”

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