World Cup analysis. England failure - Top class preparation does not mean success

The Three Lions touched down in London. They are silent tigers, and they are more than three. There are over 80 people in English delegation: 23 players, fitness and tactics coaches, sport scientists, video analysts, security officers, doctors, masseurs, managers, the FA officials, sponsors and one psychiatrist, who reportedly told the team: «We can do it, guys!» To put it simply, all the people, who The Special One once called the specialists in failure.

England returns after the worst World Cup in history. For the first time in 60 years England have not passed the group stage. It has been confirmed that Roy Hodgson will keep on his work. The gaffer promises result by Euro 2016: new lions, new team. But first he will try to keep Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in the roster. No kidding! The GERRARD who failed in Brazil.

The bonuses from FIFA, $8m for participation and $1.5m for preparation, allowed England to live in grand style. And they picked up the best. The training ground lied in picturesque oceanview military base in a small town of Urca. England paid 100k pounds for seven training sessions. The FA rented a mediacenter for 80k pounds. None of the other participants matched this luxury.

The FA build a modern training complex in Burton, but the national team trained in Algarve. A session in Miami followed.

But apart from officials, thousands of fans flew to Brazil to support the national side. Enflish supporters bought 57 thousand match tickets, the fifth highest.

And Roy Hodgson dared to tell those fans, who had paid thousands of pounds to see two defeats and a goalless draw with Costa Rica: “We’ve shown how good a team we can be. You can’t demand more spectacular performance from the team”. Daily Mail laughed off England chances against Costa Rica in the article “Don’t worry lads it’s just England”.. And Roy Hodgson says it was a grat display?

The coach could also lament on elevated paychecks in Premier League that keep youngsters tied to home championship. But the truth is there are really few talented youngsters in England. There were hardly any questions with picking the 23-man squad for the World Cup.

Brazil, Germany, Spain, Argentina would be able able to make a reserve team, level to the main squad. France has a whole bunch of youngsters tipped to shine in the years to come. England has no reserve. They completed just one cross out of 28 attempts. David Backham would show them class without taking his formal shoes off.

The media will chew dirty stories about players having fun in Brazil for some time. And then they will switch to transfer window, Premier League start and Euro 2016 qualification. England will likely get to the tournament (it’s hard to fail playing against Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and San Marino). Hodgson was lucky Luis Suarez relieved some media tension from England commiting another piece of cannibalism against Giorgio Chiellini.

The Three Lions have all the best except result. Or the most expensive. At least the players came to the stands to thank their supporters.

Photo: АР, Getty Images