Rooney serves the second game of his two-match ban when England face Sweden on Friday.
“We have missed him, no question,” Hodgson told BBC.
“He is a world-class player and when we get him on the field we’ll be a much stronger and more potent attacking force than when he’s not playing.”
He added: “When you talk about Sweden, you talk about Zlatan Ibrahimovic and how important he is for them – how he can decide a game.
“Well, we have got one of those [players] in our squad. His name is Wayne Rooney.”
“His training has been excellent and his attitude around the place has also been excellent,” he continued.
“He’s been very, very supportive of the younger players so he just needs now to hang on for another couple of days because his chance will come soon enough.
“He’s desperate of course that we go far in the tournament because he wants to play in more than one game.”
