“If you compare the two teams, England have all the stars”.
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Less than 24 hours after England were ousted from the European Championships by Iceland, a result and a performance that proved an embarrassment for all involved and the end of the road for Hodgson, stories emerged about splits in the camp.
But, to his credit, Hodgson didn’t hide away.
Feeling “very fragile”, Hodgson reluctantly appeared for one last England news conference on Tuesday, against his better instincts.
England were humbled by minnows Iceland in the last 16 of Euro 2016 on Monday, losing 2-1 in Nice despite hitting the front with a second-minute penalty from Wayne Rooney.
But he also didn’t want anyone to think that he was frightened to face the music. So he roused himself for the TV cameras and assembled journalists at the chateau north of Paris where England, briefly, set up base.
“I said before the tournament and I’ve been asked many times, but I’m proud to play for England and I’ll see who the next manager is and, if selected, I’m available to play”, said Rooney. The talent that he had at his disposal should have been good enough to get to at least the quarter-finals of the Euros and to put in such abject performances like that is unacceptable. And yes, considering the disparity in size, wealth and experience, the FA needs to take a long hard look at how it happened.
Defender Ragnar Sigurdsson, who scored Iceland’s first goal and made an outstanding last-ditch tackle to deny Jamie Vardy a potential equalizer, said he had “dreamt. a long time ago” of playing England.
England’s defeat is not down to a lack of hunger.
In other European countries it is just not the case. “I’m very fragile today as you can understand”. “It wasn’t a good night, for anyone”, Hodgson said.
‘I wasn’t forced to come, but I’m unhappy about it.
“Everyone was waiting for someone else to pull them out”, Ian Wright said on British television.
FA chief executive Martin Glenn insists that foreign managers will be considered for the England job following Roy Hodgson’s resignation.
That was all the more odd because, in the group stages, England played two reasonable games, against Russian Federation and then Wales, in which it did appear to have a semblance of a clue as to how to perform.
“I think this job is getting easier because I think that more and more young players are coming through who are capable of doing a good job”.
“‘The only thing they’ve got is the big boy up front, Sigthorsson”.
Next month, England will celebrate half a century since Bobby Moore, their greatest captain, lifted the World Cup on home soil in 1966.
Each failure piles more pressure on the English players’ shoulders. Hindsight is always 20-20 but even at the time the decision seemed freakish, and a drab 0-0 draw, in which England utterly failed to break their opponents down and conceded first-place to Wales – who remain in the competition – only added to the mystery of Hodgson’s team selection.
Criticism of the Frenchman is growing among Arsenal’s fan base after 20 years at the London club, and Wenger could be tempted by a first worldwide job, perhaps the final one of his career.
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“Iceland is not your epitaph”, he told Hodgson. And that man is Glenn Hoddle.
