Mourinho: England did well and shouldn’t be ashamed

Jose Mourinho has mounted a defence of England's unsuccessful World Cup campaign, insisting that despite going out in the group stages, Roy Hodgson's team "played well".

The prevailing mood in England appears to be one of despair after a combination of two defeats against Italy and Uruguay and the Azzurri's shock loss to Costa Rica meant England's World Cup adventure was over after only two games.

But Mourinho, speaking in his capacity as Yahoo's Global Football Ambassador, said England were unlucky to be drawn in a tough group and can go home with their heads held high after two competitive displays. "First of all, England was not lucky in the draw," said Mourinho. "For some reason it is possible that you have three world champions and three strong teams like Uruguay, Italy and England in the same group.

"From the best three or four matches in this competition, England was present in two. It means that England did well, played well, competed well.

"They started both matches very well, was not afraid of Uruguay, was not afraid of Italy; conceded, reacted, scored an equaliser. Yahoo