England Manager Roy Hodgson has criticized Man City, Chelsea and Tottenham "for the timing of their post-season tours" of the U.S., claiming England's plans for friendly matches against Ireland and Brazil have been "scotched," according to James Riach of the London GUARDIAN. England plays Ireland at Wembley on May 29 before a trip to Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã on June 2 to face Luiz Felipe Scolari's Brazil. However, Hodgson "is furious that his preparations have been hindered by players travelling long distances with their clubs." To compound Hodgson's frustration, the FA "originally brought forward the games against Ireland and Brazil so the players could be released earlier for their summer breaks." Hodgson said, "Our thought a long time back was let's do it as quickly as possible after the season and get the players back home for a long rest." He added, "So we've been scotched a little bit by the teams who decided to go on long close-season tours. It's made the first match a little bit difficult because some of the players will only have been back a few days when we've got to play and also we're scotched in that all the teams have decided to go far west to America and Bahamas, so they're going backward and forward on these long journeys" (GUARDIAN, 5/18).
