England manager Roy Hodgson believes his side has a chance of winning the World Cup after they booked their place in Brazil on Tuesday night.
The Three Lions needed to beat Poland in their final qualifying match to guarantee a berth at next year’s showpiece and a goal in either half saw them achieve their aim.
England went into their final two games at Wembley needing six points to make sure they would be in South America and they put on two decent displays to get over the line, with Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard netting the all-important goals against the Poles.
But there is a section of the media who feel that England will even struggle to past the group stage of the event next summer.
Hodgson will now have to monitor his players carefully over the next eight months to finalise his squad and the veteran coach refuses to rule out the chances of his charges pulling off an upset on the biggest stage.
“We’ve always got a chance,” he said. “It you want to win the lottery you’ve got to buy a ticket. We’ve got our ticket so that in itself is useful.”
The 2014 World Cup will probably be Hodgson’s last tournament in charge of the national side and, having coached Switzerland at the 1994 World Cup in the USA, the veteran boss is looking forward to more of the same next year.
“It means an awful lot,” he added. “I thought the America experience was a good one and I’m sure Brazil will be a good one.”
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