There is, at this early stage, absolutely no reason to panic. Roy Hodgson has everything under control and he could yet prove a genius when it comes to knowing what is best for England’s international footballers.

But it is a bit of a concern when we see Nigel de Jong arriving in Lausanne to join the Holland squad preparing for Euro 2012 on the day Wayne Rooney touches down in Las Vegas.

Similarly, it might cause alarm to know that, while Mario Balotelli missed Manchester City’s open-top bus tour on Monday evening to meet up with his Italian colleagues, other England players were also planning a quick holiday before reporting for international duty.

Compared with his counterparts with France, Holland, Germany, Italy and Spain, Hodgson does seem to be taking a remarkably relaxed approach to the tournament in Poland and Ukraine, which starts in three weeks.

The Dutch, as De Jong confirmed on his Twitter page, met up on Thursday. The France players
England face in their opening group game on Monday, June 11 congregate at their national football centre in Clairefontaine,

Wayne gambles on Vegas: Rooney arrives in Las Vegas for a short break before he meets up with his international teammates ahead of Euro 2012

The Germans have already been in Sardinia. Joachim Low took a provisional squad there and they are due to arrive in the south of France on Friday. The Borussia Dortmund players involved in last weekend’s German Cup final then report on Tuesday, with Low announcing that he will give his eight Bayern Munich players a further two or three days off if they follow defeat in the league and the cup by Dortmund by losing to Chelsea in the Champions League final.

The Spanish, meanwhile, arrive in Austria on Tuesday for their training camp.

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