English look for silver lining despite early exit
The knives are already sharpened. They keep ’em in a special drawer, to be opened once every four years.
Skipper Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and the remainder of the English oldguard are doubtless steeling themselves for the Fifth Estate third degree now.
And there’ll surely be no afternoon tea with Her Majesty at Claridge’s for Roy Hodgson anytime soon. But at least he looks safe from going on the dole.
A surprise 1-0 Italy loss to Costa Rica in Recife on Friday officially snuffed any slight, residual, lingering hope of England progressing to the knockout stage of this World Cup.
That means for the first time in 56 years, since 1958, the Three Lions are out so early at the big show.
Hodgson defiantly insisted he would not resign following the losses to Italy and Uruguay here. Interestingly enough, FA chairman Greg Dyke has publicly backed his under-fire manager through the 2016 Euros.
“We’re supportive of Roy Hodgson, we’ve asked him to stay as manager,” Dyke said. “We do not see any value in changing. We think Roy has done a good job and it is an approach over four years and we hope to do better in the European Championships
“Everybody thought we played really well in the first game and narrowly lost,” Dyke said when asked why England had lost both their opening World Cup games for the first time in history. “In the second game it could have gone either way. We were not humiliated or anything like that. They were narrow defeats, but it is for the football people, not for me, to identify why we did not win.”
Tellingly, Hodgson pointedly refused to call Luis Suarez, whose two goals Thursday at the Maracana in essence finished the English off, “world class.” Despite Suarez leading the Barclay’s Premier League in goals with 31 this past season.
“He (Suarez) will only be at that level when he shows it on this particular (World Cup) stage,” Hodgson replied
That slight, Suarez admitted, provided good fuel for the match itself.
“It wasn’t revenge, but in England they talked about the (knee) injury and the coach had words that annoyed me,” Suárez was quoted as saying on the Uruguayan website Tenfield.
England’s Tuesday match versus the surprising Costan Ricans in Belo Horizonte is now meaningless.
BRACE YOURSELF
Days after coach Paulo Bento assured alarmed Portuguese fans that Cristiano Ronaldo would be “100 per cent fit” for Sunday’s imperative match against the U.S., the captain wore a brace on his left knee during training.
Ronaldo featured in his nation’s 4-0 dissection by the Germany but was caught by TV cameras with an ice pack strapped to the knee and had a shortened training session earlier this week.
Meanwhile, defender Bruno Alves missed the workout entirely, suffering from an adductor muscle problem and is a major doubt.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“He’s the best player I’ve played with on the pitch. This is an unlucky moment for him. I don’t like it when he hurts like this. I said ‘Keep going, forget this game, you’re one of the best.’” — Uruguay’s Luis Suarez, whose two goals beat Liverpool clubmate Steve Gerrard’s England 2-1 Thursday.
NUTMEGS
FIFA has dropped Colombian assistant referee Humberto Clavijo after two calamitous offside decisions cost Mexico in its match against Colombia ... Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella has denied there was any simmering conflict between him and Lionel Messi after his star man said he preferred a more attacking structure than the team was using. Argentina struggled to a 1-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in its opening match ... A Brazilian court has ordered FIFA to introduce water breaks in World Cup matches when temperatures reach 32C ... Ibrahim Toure, younger brother of Premier League duo Yaya and Kolo, died Thursday at 28 years old just hours after Ivory Coast lost 2-1 to Colombia at the World Cup. Cause of death has not yet been determined.