England recovering from WC 2014 Losses
England appear to be recovering well from the horror showing at the World Cup 2014 in which they were knocked out of the group stages for the first time in more than 30 years. Admittedly, England were given a tough group stage with the likes of Uruguay and Italy as the opposition. Still, they were at least expected to reach the quarter-finals, which appeared to be a norm in recent decades. Their failure to get past the group stages led to speculation about Roy Hodgson’s position in the England team. There have been calls for the former Liverpool boss to be sacked from his role.
Those calls have died down in recent months after having witnessed England on the verge of a renaissance. England are one of the few teams to have a 100% record in the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign until now. They continued to build on this form after a 3-1 defeat against Scotland.
Hodgson admitted that the World Cup 2014 was not a good memory, but he is happy with the progress that the team has been making. The former Liverpool boss has called up a number of young players for the team in order to replace older heads like Gerrard and Lampard, who have departed the scene.
“We were doing a lot of things right leading up to Brazil, but the World Cup was a real cold shower.Supposedly we had to start again, but I don’t think that.
We’d always been working towards where we are today.A lot of players were beginning to emerge and stake their claim just before the World Cup, players who hadn’t necessarily fully succeeded. I’d like to think some of the players we’ve brought in have shown signs they can justify the confidence I’ve shown in them,” said Hodgson.