Hodgson has high hopes for Euro 2016

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Roy Hodgson is confident that, despite England's two defeats at the FIFA World Cup™ bringing about an early exit, they have shown enough quality to raise hopes of a decent Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. 

Consecutive 2-1 defeats by Italy and Uruguay have left England facing a meaningless final game against Group D surprise package Costa Rica in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday, after which the squad will fly home. In time, head coach Hodgson will turn his thoughts to the 2016 European Championship qualifiers, starting with an away game against Switzerland on September 8, and he says that he will take heart from what he has seen in Brazil.

"I believe England have a very strong basis for a team," he told newspaper reporters after his side's loss to Uruguay in Sao Paulo on Thursday. "It's very young. These players within the space of two years will play in the Premier league, and they will get better and stronger as an England team.

"I have never doubted (that) this team as it moves forward - not just to 2016, but on from there - will become stronger and better. We will just for the moment have to suck on this very bitter pill that our hopes and dreams have floundered here because we were unable to win the games."

Young players
Among the players who played against Uruguay were 19-year-old Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling and 20-year-old Everton midfielder Ross Barkley, both of whom have been blooded by Hodgson. Young players such as Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson have also gained valuable playing experience during the World Cup, while several players have sampled a major tournament for the first time.

Given his side's relative inexperience, particularly when compared to a wily Uruguay team, Hodgson felt that England's display at the Corinthians Arena augured well. "I think that bodes well for the future," he said. "It was a tough team to play against, tough physically. We had a bigger domination than we had against the Italians. For large parts of the game we kept them at bay."

He added: "Results colour everyone's judgement and I am certainly happy with the way the players have prepared for these games. I am certainly happy with the way we have approached the tournament and I am happy with effort they have put in, but we have played two experienced and strong teams and on both occasions we have come second."

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has confirmed that Hodgson will be allowed to see out his contract, which expires in 2016, and the former Liverpool manager received unequivocal backing from senior players Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart on Saturday. Asked if his enthusiasm for the job was still intact, Hodgson replied: "My enthusiasm for football is not likely to wane and my enthusiasm for working with these players is not likely to wane either."

Hodgson: We are on the back foot

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Roy Hodgson has said that he remains confident of qualifying for the second round of the FIFA World Cup™, but accepts England may have to beat both Uruguay and Costa Rica after their opening 2-1 defeat to Italy.

England produced some fine attacking football, but their defence let them down in the jungle city of Manaus on Saturday night. The unmarked Claudio Marchisio put Italy head from 20 yards and Mario Balotelli got in behind Gary Cahill to grab a crucial second after Daniel Sturridge had equalised.

Although the performance was encouraging, the reality is that England are joint bottom of Group D along with Uruguay, who surprisingly lost 3-1 to Costa Rica earlier on Saturday. England play Uruguay in Sao Paulo on Thursday before taking on Costa Rica, and Hodgson believes both games are must-win.

"The fact is that if you lose the first game you probably have to win the next two," the England manager said. "The teams you play against have to win as well, but there is no way you can drift into the second round.

"Italy have the best start, as have Costa Rica, and we and Uruguay are on the back foot. We now play Uruguay and Costa Rica, so at least our fate is in our hands."

Hodgson was excited by what he saw from his young Lions and called on the squad to quickly move on from the loss. "We have to lift our heads now and make the players realise that if they can reproduce that performance twice more there is a good chance they will get the result," the manager said.

"It's never easy to take positives when you have lost, but I think we all need time to digest what happened on the field. My gut feeling was we did some very good things and there were some good individual performances. I thought all the young players did well. None of them let me down or their country down today."

Sturridge hobbled off in the second half, but Hodgson confirmed the striker only suffered a dead leg. England's only injury was to physio Gary Lewin, who broke and dislocated his ankle after landing on a water bottle during the celebrations for the equaliser.

Italy, meanwhile, are now overwhelming favourites to qualify, although coach Cesare Prandelli lavished praise on Hodgson's team. "Physically, we were a bit better than England, but I think England are one of the strongest teams at the World Cup," he said.