WORLD CUP
GEARING UP FOR BATTLE
Hodgson with his players
during a training session
16
BRAZIL | JUNE 12 - JULY 13, 2014
NEVER before has England traveled to a World
Cup better prepared — for the post-tournament
inquest.
The search for answers to England’s longstanding struggles began while the team coached
by Roy Hodgson was still qualifying for its fifth
straight World Cup. Too many foreign players
in the Premier League? England’s lack of a winter
break? The Football Association commission’s verdict won’t
be delivered until next season, but England’s World Cup
excuses are in earlier than ever before.
“We are limited because some of the players we’d like
to choose, and have chosen in the qualifying games, a