Micah Richards’s hopes of earning an England recall have been hit by the realisation that Roy Hodgson is not planning to include him in an experimental squad for next week’s friendly international against Italy.
Hodgson is planning to include several young players, including Richards’s Great Britain team-mates Daniel Sturridge and Tom Cleverley, when he names his squad tomorrow, but there will be no place for the Manchester City defender, who was trusted by Stuart Pearce to captain the Olympic team in the second half of their group stage win over Uruguay.
Richards has been nursing a slight ankle injury since Britain’s Olympic exit and may not have been released by City in any case, but he will have been disheartened to discover that he remains