Liverpool midfielder Gerrard was restricted to light
work during England’s first training session in
Brazil on Monday and was believed to be
struggling with a groin problem.
But, addressing the media for the first time in Rio
de Janeiro, Hodgson insisted he is cleared to play
against Italy in their Group D opener on Saturday.
"We did a training session yesterday where the
players who didn't play on Saturday against
Honduras trained, and some of the others did a
warm-down session," he said.
"Steven did some extra work at the end of that
training session. There's nothing wrong with him
and I don't understand that story at all."
Arsenal’s Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a knee
injury in the warm-up game against Ecuador last
week.
Hodgson has been pleased with the 20-year-old's
progress but stopped short of suggesting he would
recover in time to feature against the Italians.
"He's done very well and will work on his training
programme during the course of the week,” he
said.
“But it’s a job for me to say when he will be
ready. It’s a medical matter. There are no
guarantees. The medics are hoping he could be fit
by the second game."
England have no other injury concerns as they
prepare for the game in Manaus and Hodgson is
happy he has a wealth of quality players to choose
from.
"It's good to have selection issues," the 66-year-
old said. "It's good to have choices and have
different people selecting different teams.
"It shows we've got enough players that people
believe are good enough to play for their country."
Hodgson, meanwhile, is convinced that England
are better suited to contain Andrea Pirlo this time
than they did at Euro 2012.
England slipped out of the European
Championships on penalties following a goalless
draw at the quarter-final stage - a game in which
Pirlo pulled the strings throughout before
converting a remarkably composed Panenka-style
spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out.
He said: “How are we going to stop Pirlo? What
we’re going to do first of all is we’re going to play
better against Italy this time than we did in Euro
2012.
“Of course, against a tiring team and a team that
was playing with Pirlo, he had a very, very good
game because he’s a very, very good player.
“What are we going to do this time against Pirlo?
First, we’ll play with more energy because we’ll
have more energy because it will be the first game
in the tournament. We’ll be even more compact
than we were in that game."
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