It is clearly not a good time to be in England coach Roy Hodgon's or any of the national team members' shoes. The team would be leaving this year's World Cup in a disappointing draw against Costa at 0-0, the Guardian said. Although it is a scoreless game, Costa Rica nonetheless emerged winner of their Group D category and would now advance to the knockout stages.
On the other hand, Hodgson is feeling optimistic about his team's show of force that barred Costa Rica in making a single goal throughout the match. He said, "I thought we were really unlucky not to win this game. I thought the whole back four was absolutely excellent. We restricted the [Costa Rica] team to almost no chances. In midfield we dominated and outplayed them."
England was already eliminated after losing their first two games, Reuters said. Their final game against Costa Rica was more academic and had only benefited bookmakers who have wagered on the final match. Nonetheless, the lack of younger players in England has been the subject of debate when English captain Steven Gerrard lamented to BBC about the impact of money in the game.
Gerrard, without mentioning names, said that although the 23 players, including Wayne Rooney, who were selected to play for England in the World Cup had the desire and hunger to succeed, he could not help share his frustration about the lack of strength of his team even against tournament underdogs like Uruguay.
"For those who want money, fame and everything that comes with football, of course it will have an effect. If you have the right mentality and the right character, you do things right and work as hard as you can to become the best player you can, but we need more of those players," Gerrard said.
BBC cited a State of the Game study, which revealed that English footballers made up less than a third of all the minutes played in the first two months of the recent Premier League season. More than half of the players in La Liga are Spaniards. In Bundesliga, Germans made up 50% of the minutes played.
