England's soccer squad has many obstacles to overcome for the 2014 World Cup qualifier, to say the least.

The team is playing Ukraine, but without a key player: Arsenal Winger Theo Walcott.

Click here to watch live stream of the game at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 11.

"Theo has picked up some sort of virus," Manager Roy Hodgson told The Telegraph. "He was quite violently ill. He trained fully Sunday and was as fit as a fiddle, and then he was violently sick this morning and had to be sent home."

Chelsea forward Daniel Sturrudge missed Monday, Sept. 10's practice because he experienced similar symptoms.

"Daniel Sturrudge trained on Sunday with stomach cramps but today woke up with the same stomach cramps, and the doctor advised us to keep him out of training and see how things are," Hodgson said to The Telegraph. "The doctor is quite confident he will be OK, but I can only hope nothing is going round the squad. That was why we were quite keen to get Theo home as soon as possible and keep Daniel away from the squad."

But just in case Sturrudge isn't ready to play, Hodgson drafted in youngsters Jake Livermore, Adam Lallana and 17-year-old Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling to ensure England has enough fit players to fill the substitutes bench at Wembley.

"I have to hope it's just an isolated case with the two players. But we've brought in three players who interest us for the future, and that'll be a contingency plan and we'll fill our quote on the bench. That's the thinking," Hodgson said.

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World cup 2014