England national team boss Roy Hodgson has revealed that he’s still confident in his team’s chances of qualifying for the next round of the World Cup after their group stage loss to Italy.
The Three Lions may have suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Azzurri in Manaus on Saturday, but the tactician admits he was impressed with his squad’s overall performance against the Italians and believes they can secure positive results in their two remaining matches against Uruguay and Costa Rica.
Hodgson spoke to BBC Sport about England’s showing against Italy and insisted that the national team are staying optimistic ahead of Thursday’s match with Uruguay.
“It was undoubtedly the best I have seen us play, as a team, in my time with them,” said the 66-year-old.
“It’s tough to accept we lost. But I’ve got great confidence we can do well enough in the next games to qualify.
“Of course we can still qualify. We’re a bit downhearted at the moment, a bit sad that the game didn’t go our way – we were hoping for a perfect start but we don’t live in a perfect world. In the second half, we did everything but score.
“We know we played against a good team and to take them so close gives us great confidence that we can do well against Uruguay and Costa Rica and still progress in the tournament.
“We are not the sort of team to sit back and, unfortunately, it left one or two opportunities for Italy to get the ball in.
“And our final ball was a bit disappointing – we’re better than that. Towards the end when we were desperate for that goal I thought there were several situations where we were in good crossing or shooting positions and we didn’t take advantage of it, and that’s something we need to work on.
“But we are a young team and this is the first World Cup for almost two thirds of the team, so I think this is something we will improve upon.
“I thought Raheem Sterling was very dangerous throughout the game. Danny Welbeck had some good moments and Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson did everything expected of them.
“I thought Wayne Rooney did very well. We know he can play in different positions and he can be satisfied with his performance.”
