England face Ivory Coast on Tuesday for what will be another decent test following their narrow victory over Switzerland who are currently 14th in the FIFA World rankings. So bearing in mind it will be the last World Cup warm up, Ivory Coast will provide a totally different test to an England team that will have West Ham's Declan Rice at the heart of its defence.
The fact that England manager Gareth Southgate deemed it necessary to bring Rice on to 'firm up' the defence to close out and manage the game against the Swiss, is testament to how highly valued the Hammers talisman is, globally as well as domestically.
The extra bit of spice for Tuesday's game will be ex-Hammer Sebastien Haller 'facing off' against Declan Rice, the club's most expensive signing who was sold to Ajax for a £25 Million loss has gone from strength to strength since leaving Stratford, breaking Champions League records along the way.
It will be interesting to see how they match up, SHOULD both be selected to play in what is after all a 'window dressing' friendly. Hammers fans while being interested in seeing the Haller who the club paid so much money for, around £45 Million, plying his trade in a role where he actually gets service!
Haller was entirely unsuited to the cut and thrust of the Premier League, perhaps given time he might have adapted, but that question is academic now and as everyone knows, the Premier League takes NO prisoners and does NOT allow players ANY time to settle.
Many question whether Rice would be able to 'adapt' to playing in a different League? To which we would answer, "Is the Pope a Catholic?" - Ed
