NEW YORK, U.S.A. — Given that the English Premier League has the highest revenue of any football league in the in the world — 3.9 billion U.S. dollars from 2013 to 14, compared to Germany’s Bundeslinga with 2.7 billion and La Liga’s 2.5 billion U.S. dollars — England was expected to be a fierce competitor in the World Cup. Indeed, England claimed the Word Cup in 1966 against West Germany. But as Germany soared through the group stages and passed Brazil to claim the title this year, England could only watch from the sidelines after failing to move past the group stage for the first time since 1958.

To those familiar with the English Premier League, the English squad going into the match against Italy looked as strong as ever. Steven Gerrard, described by Zinedine Zidane as “maybe … the best in the world”  was playing alongside other experienced players such as Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney and talented youngsters like Daniel Sturridge and striker Raheem Sterling. However, the team was unable to beat Italy. Striker Raheem Sterling, rated by the BBC as the team’s best performing player, was unable to bring the English team to victory as Claudio Marchisio and Mario Balotelli scored in the 35th and 50th minutes respectively.

The match against Uruguay was equally disappointing for England fans as Liverpool’s Luis Suárez put two past Joe Hart. Manager Roy Hodgson bemoaned Suárez’s second goal and called for the offside rule to be changed such that inadvertent headers, in this case from Gerard, aren’t counted as passes, and Suarez should have been considered offside. England left the field with another 2-1 loss, knowing they would have no chance of claiming the cup for the next four yars.

Hodgson defends England’s strategies and training, stating that a “freak goal after a period of domination” shouldn’t mean that entire training strategies need to be changed. He claims the England Football Association has made it clear that they want his leadership to continue for at least the next two years, and he still has faith in the current squad’s ability to win future tournaments.

For now, England fans have left Rio de Janeiro disappointed. Hodgson seems comfortable with the current squad, but surely some changes will be made before England heads to the UEFA Euro 2016 to avoid another disappointing early exit.