STEVEN GERRARD and Roy Hodgson have challenged Harry Redknapp to name and shame the players he claims asked not to play for England while he was Tottenham manager.
Roy Hodgson was not aware of any England defectors[EPA]The England captain and manager reacted strongly to assertions from Redknapp that several Spurs players requested to be pulled out of squads because they did not "need the aggro" of playing for their country.
Gerrard, who is weighing up whether to continue his international career having been asked to play on by Hodgson for Euro 2016, called on Redknapp to "embarrass" the players as the inquest continued into England's shortest World Cup campaign in 60 years.
Redknapp, now in charge at Queens Park Rangers, had questioned the commitment of modern-day players in an interview with Five Live's Sportsweek programme.
"When I was at Tottenham, when full internationals came around, there were two or three players who did not want to play for England," said Redknapp.
"They would come to me 10 days before the game and say, 'Gaffer, get me out of that game, I don't want to play in that game'.
"I'd say, 'You're playing for your country, you should want to play'. [They would say] 'Nah, my girlfriend is having a baby in four weeks, I don't want to play'. And that is the truth.
"It makes you wonder. And I think it's only going to get worse. You see the stick the England players get and they come home, they're earning fantastic money at their clubs, they're all playing in the Champions League. They think, 'Do we need the aggro?'"
In the two years I've been here, I've seen a greater interest in playing for England, so Harry's comments come as a bit of a surprise
Redknapp worked with 12 England players at Spurs - Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Aaron Lennon, Darren Bent, Scott Parker, David Bentley, Jermaine Jenas, Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone, Jonathan Woodgate, Ledley King and Kyle Walker - but his reticence in identifying them irked Gerrard.
"I'd be interested to find out who those players are," said Gerrard, who will not start tomorrow's final Group D game with Costa Rica and instead hand the captain's armband to Frank Lampard.
"If Harry is making a comment like that, he should name them and embarrass them. No one in this group wants to go home. No one wants to go home.
"If what he says is right it's disgusting. For me, if a player doesn't want to be, he doesn't deserve to be here at a World Cup.
"But the comment is not clear. 'They' didn't want to play for England. Who? Name them. Is it Aaron Lennon, Kyle Walker, Andros Townsend? I don't know who he means. Was it five years ago? 10 years ago? Should Harry not name them?"
Steven Gerrard wants to know who Harry Redknapp is talking about [PA]Hodgson joined the argument to defend Defoe and Gerrard added: "I've spoken to Jermain and he's devastated [not to be in Brazil].
"We need names. It's not been the case here. I can guarantee it's not been the case here."
Hodgson then insisted that rather than a downturn, interest in the national team was higher.
"In the two years I've been here, I've seen a greater interest in playing for England, so Harry's comments come as a bit of a surprise," he said. "If you make comments like that, you have to name them."
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