England were left looking like smiling idiots just happy to be at the party, Britain’s newspapers said Saturday after their humiliating early exit from the World Cup was confirmed.
With England’s tournament in Brazil over-Costa Rica’s 1-0 win over Italy on Friday making their survival mathematically impossible after two defeats-the press began casting about for scapegoats.
Newspapers vented anger at the Football Association, the national governing body, for giving manager Roy Hodgson the green light to carry on in charge — 35 minutes before England went crashing out of the tournament.
The Daily Mail said it was “bloody insulting” for the FA to declare Hodgson safe in his job so quickly. Greg Dyke, “the erratic FA chairman, decided it should be the very day for him to declare his public support for his manager in what looks like a Sepp Blatter-esque display of disengaged buffoonery.
