FAILURE IS POSSIBLE

England manager Roy Hodgson has admitted for the first time that the 1966 World Cup winners could possibly fail to reach the finals of the 2014 edition, which will be held in Brazil. Hodgson saw his team only manage a 1-1 draw with their main challengers in the group – Montenegro. Even though the prospect of reaching the finals is still within the hands of England, there is a real possibility that they could miss out on this major tournament like they missed out on the Euro 2008. Only the group winners qualify to the World Cup directly, while the second placed team will have to face another team in the play-offs.

As a result of the draw against Montenegro, England remain two points behind their main challengers. The team could be facing big names like France, Portugal, and Croatia in the play-offs. Hence, automatic qualification is the only way to ensure that England are certain to reach the finals in Brazil. Hodgson has acknowledged the fact that playoffs are going to be extremely difficult because each group contains at least two teams that are extremely good. As result of the defeat against Spain, France have fallen into the second position in their group.

“If, as a result of our performances, we are second in our group then we will worry about the team we have to face in the play-offs. But the fact is that, in the World Cup qualifiers, only one team goes straight through. In the play-offs it’s going to be a good team because, in every group, there are at least two good teams. In fact, I would suggest there are more than two good teams in some of the groups,” said Hodgson. The former West Brom manager replaced Fabio Capello just before the start of the Euro 2012.