England World Cup squad announcement: 'There was not enough room for both Rickie Lambert and Andy Carroll,' says Roy Hodgson

The Southampton striker Lambert got the nod in the end

Rickie Lambert will go to the World Cup finals in Brazil with England (PA)

Roy Hodgson has admitted that his squad for the World Cup was simply not big enough to accommodate both forwards Rickie Lambert and Andy Carroll, and Southampton's Lambert prevailed in the end.

The England manager claimed today that is was "great" to see Carroll playing for West Ham this season after overcoming injury, but Lambert got the nod because of his form during England's qualifying campaign for Brazil. Lambert has scored two goals in four matches for his country.

Carroll has instead been named in Hodgson's standby list alongside Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Jermain Defoe, Jon Flanagan, John Ruddy and John Stones.

"The fact he played for Southampton had no effect, but Lambert had been with us throughout qualifying campaign," Hodgson said today. "It's great to see Andy Carroll back playing but it was a choice between two players and I didn't think there was room for both."

ENGLAND SQUAD..

Goalkeepers

J Hart (Manchester City), B Foster (West Brom), F Forster (Celtic)

Defenders

G Johnson (Liverpool), P Jagielka (Everton), G Cahill (Chelsea), C Smalling (Manchester United), P Jones (Manchester United), L Baines (Everton), L Shaw (Southampton)

Midfielders

S Gerrard (Liverpool, capt), F Lampard (Chelsea), J Henderson (Liverpool), J
Milner (Manchester City), J Wilshere (Arsenal), R Barkley (Everton), A Lallana
(Southampton), R Sterling (Liverpool), A Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)

Strikers

W Rooney (Manchester United), D Sturridge (Liverpool), D Welbeck (Manchester United), R Lambert (Southampton).

Standby-players

Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Andy Carroll (West Ham United), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC), Jon Flanagan (Liverpool), John Ruddy (Norwich City), John Stones (Everton)