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Hodgson: Respect both national anthems

England manager Roy Hodgson is dreaming of victory over Wales and a show of mutual respect between fans in Lens, but accepts he cannot guarantee either.

England's Euro 2016 opener brought disappointment on several levels, with violent clashes between English and Russian supporters in Marseille marring the occasion and a last-minute equaliser restricting Hodgson's dominant side to a draw.

He has high hopes for better at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, where he wants his team to take all three points and its followers to join their British "brothers" by observing the national anthems in silence.

Having previously praised the England fans inside the Stade Velodrome last week, Hodgson indicated he found the jeering of both anthems ahead of the match distasteful.

"What I expect and what I'd like to see has no relevance in what happens in football today," he said on the eve of the Group B match.

"I can call for lots of things, but whether it changes behaviour is another matter. I'm a football coach. I don't give myself magical powers to change the way football fans act and behave.

"If you ask me what I would like, I'd like to see both national anthems totally and utterly respected.

"Whether we will see that or not I don't know. We are here to play football. These are matters we cannot affect.

"The fact that it's a game between brothers, if you like, adds spice to it and interest. That's something I can only welcome."

Hodgson has more influence on the on-field matters - particularly in terms of system and selection, both of which he has changed with some regularity in recent times.

But he was in no mood to respond to some of the provocation that has emanated from the Wales dressing room, much of it from Real Madrid star Gareth Bale.

"Talk is talk; action on the field is action on the field," he said.

"If we really took it seriously, thinking about what people in the other team are saying, and allowed it to affect our concentration we'd be very ashamed of ourselves.

"The reality of football rests on that patch of green between 90 and 95 minutes.

"Whichever team is going to win has to do it on the field of play and by scoring more goals than the opposition."

England captain Wayne Rooney was reticent to follow Bale's lead after he said on Wednesday that no England players would make the Welsh XI, taking a more conciliatory path.

"I think we've got a lot of good players, they've got some good players. I think it's going to be an interesting game," he said.

"In terms of world-class players, that's down for other people to say. I believe there's lots of very good players who would get into a lot of teams on the pitch."

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