Crashing out: But Hodgson believes England have reasons to be optimistic

There is also a possible clash with the USA in Florida en route to Brazil in 2014 in the pipeline, the FA acting like every federation with serious designs on one of the 32 World Cup places.

But such preparation is only part of the picture, and after what happened in Kiev on Sunday night the less important of the two main challenges the FA face before the next major tournament.

Hodgson has to qualify first, of course. But by the summer of 2014 he also has to deliver a team more capable of dealing with the strongest nations in the competition. That is Hodgson’s task moving on from Euro 2012; the task by which he will ultimately be measured as an England manager.

The contest with Italy exposed some all too familiar deficiencies in the England side. Not least an alarming inability to retain possession and pass the ball in a manner the Italians made look easy. We did not need the pages of statistics UEFA produced afterwards to tell us that, even if the fact that Joe Hart completed more passes than any team-mate told its own story.

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