No excuses: Hodgson's men must put all the recent controversy behind them

Later, Hodgson added: ‘It was a facetious question but there was an element of truth — not spitefulness — in what he was saying. As a top nation we haven’t probably won as many tournaments as we should have or sometimes done as well as we should have. We all feel that weight.

'There’s nothing we can do to take that weight off our shoulders except make certain we embrace the tournament.

‘Make certain we’re not afraid of it, that we believe in ourselves. It’s a fact of life. I think before the very good French period, we could have levelled a similar accusation against them.’

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