Roy Hodgson speaks after the draw that saw England face Italy, Costa Rica and Uruguay in Group D
“It’s a tough group, there’s no doubt about that. In Italy and Uruguay it’s almost as though we have got two number one seeds in our group. “Italy were very unlucky not to be seeded in the first eight. We know how good Italy are because we lost to them in the quarter-finals at the Euros.
“There were not going to be many scenarios where we were going to be jumping for joy. It doesn’t surprise us. I suppose one positive is that we have only got one long trip, then the other two are in the same neck of the woods.”
“The good thing is that we know each other and the other thing in our favour is that the game we have got in the north, where the conditions are going to be tough climatically, is against another European team so we are both going to be in the same boat.
“There were many scenarios when I would be thinking this is going to be very tough for us. To get one that is a bit tougher doesn’t surprise me at all because there is a lot of travelling to be done in most of the groups. Our great advantage is being based in Rio means we only have one long trip.”
