Hug it out, chaps: Hodgson and Cole, who will be making his 98th appearance for England on Sunday, share an embrace

A few hours later, Hodgson was holding court in a private dining room in a hotel in Krakow. He spoke in headlines and at one stage he even spoke in Latin - a first, surely, for an England manager.

But he also spoke an awful lot of common sense. He recognises the threat Pirlo might pose; his ability to dominate and control midfield.

'I know Andrea quite well,' he said. 'I worked with him (at Inter Milan). We'll make certain the wide players don't get too wide and leave gaps to the side of our central midfield players, and one of the two front players will drop a bit deeper to avoid the two central ones being dragged forward.

'When you're worried about their central midfielders, there is a danger yours might go too far forward and allow them to thread the balls around you. That's the thing we've got to avoid, so our front players will help us out. They did it against France and Sweden, with (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic, and with (Anatoliy) Tymoschuk against Ukraine. Pirlo is just one on a list of players who will occupy our attention.'

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