Roy Hodgson: 'Defeat by Italy is hard for us to accept'

Roy Hodgson admitted England’s opening World Cup Group D defeat to Italy was “tough to take”.

Claudio Marchisio fired the Italians ahead with a superb long-range drive in the 35th minute but Daniel Sturridge levelled moments later when he slotted home Wayne Rooney’s cross.

However, Mario Balotelli’s header five minutes after the break half clinched victory for Cesare Prandelli’s men – despite the Three Lions creating a hatful of chances of their own.

Hodgson said: “It’s a bit tough to accept that we lost the game, especially considering there were so few shots on our goal in the second half.

“Joe Hart had a pretty quiet evening really and yet we find ourselves having lost. 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.

Cesare Prandelli greets Roy Hodgson before the game

“It’s always difficult when you lose a game to take the positives. Even when it was 2-1, I thought we’d get back into it and go on to win it because it was quite a dominant second half performance.

“The only positive I can take is that it was undoubtedly the best I’ve seen the team play during my time with them.

“It’s very good to know that we have so many players who will help us become a much better team going forward.”

Raheem Sterling, Wayne Rooney, Ross Barkley and Daniel Sturridge all had opportunities to add to England’s tally and Hodgson urged his side to be more clinical in their next match against Uruguay on Thursday.

He added: “Our final ball was a bit disappointing today – we’re better than that. I thought especially 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 going forward.

“We’re a very positive team – we’re not the sort of team that sits back and when we get the ball, we burst forward all the time. Unfortunately we left one or two opportunities for them to get the ball in there but I think even in the first half we had some very good chances to score and in the second half we did everything but score.”

England will take on Uruguay in five days’ time with both sides needing to record a victory to boost their hopes of making the last 16.

Oscar Tabarez’s side also suffered defeat in their opening match – going down 3-1 to a Joel Campbell-inspired Costa Rica.

But Hodgson insists his squad has what it takes to progress into the knockout stages. 

He added: “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.

“But I’ve got great confidence that we can do well enough in the next two games to qualify and I’m sure the players will get that when they get over this disappointment.”