Intro:

England manager Roy Hodgson made light of his recent comments on Wayne Rooney's accent on Wednesday and said he had apologised to his captain after suggesting his Liverpudlian dialect would not be suitable for speaking to large audiences. Hodgson's side will take on San Marino on Thursday in their second Euro 2016 qualifier.

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Roy Hodgson, England manager (asked about his comments on Wayne Rooney's Liverpudlian accent):

"I have to be very careful when talking about accents and the way people speak. It took me years to realise I had a speech defect but it was made very clear to me when I took the job that I had one, so I'm the last person to discuss accents. I'm disappointed of course with the headlines because what I was trying to say I think actually came out in the article but of course it's headlines which create potential damage. Fortunately I've got a guy alongside me who has been in football along time. He knows it was in no way aimed at him or anyone from Liverpool - my wife is from Liverpool so that's the last thing I'd be doing! And I have actually apologised to him for the headline but he was so gracious that he didn't even want the apology. As far as we're concerned, it's a storm in a tea cup."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Roy Hodgson, England manager (on facing San Marino):

"I don't want to go down the ridiculous cliché of one more goal than the opposition is always enough. I don't want to suggest either that it's going to be easy for us to go out there at Wembley and score lots of goals, because I know it won't be. All I can say is this - I know the players that I select tomorrow will be anxious to play at the highest of their levels, that should be difficult for a team like San Marino to live with if we reach that goal and I think that will lead to us scoring goals."