World Cup Diary: The moment England’s dream finally died

It’s official. England will be making an early exit from Brazil having been eliminated from the World Cup following Costa Rica’s shock 1-0 win over Italy. 

And the post-mortem has begun in earnest as fans, pundits and punters paw over the wreckage of another tournament failure.

Having watched the Azzurri fail to do us a favour here’s my reaction from Brazil as the country contemplates the future of the national side.

But there is some good news for one lucky Ladbrokes customer. Check back to hear more about that later…

04:30 – The first of three morning interviews calls to pick the bones out of the last night and work out exactly what chance we have if any.

I’m putting my best spin on things but it seems people in the UK are even more despondent than those who have travelled.

06:00 –  Reports surface suggesting Roy Hodgson’s job is safe and he’ll see out his contract to take the side to France 2016 which I’m told England are 1/66 to qualify for.

11:15 – One thing leads to another with work and before I know it the time to get downstairs and on the bus to the airport. The PB for frantic packing set in Rio before Manaus  is smashed to the point where the stewards call me in for an enquiry.

13:00 – Time to settle down in front of the Budweiser big screen to watch the game that will decide our fate at the World Cup. Cheers go up when Balotelli flashes up on the screen. Forza Azzurri!

13:44 – Fulham striker Bryan Ruiz delivers an almighty blow when he deservedly puts Los Ticos ahead. It’s a long way back from here and just to add to the tension we’re called to the gate for our flight.

14:53 – It’s fastest finger first on Twitter and the moment I see a couple of members of the press mimic Greg Dyke’s infamous throat slitting gesture that’s all I need to know.

15:20 –  Just in case it needed any confirmation, a pretty slick digital screen by the baggage reclaim shows the group standings with Inglaterra rooted to the bottom of the table.

Spirits start to pick up among those who are called to say they will be staying to cover the entire tournament while many of the travelling party are also making plans to curtail their trip.

Not many thought they’d have to be sorting that out after just two games.

16:30-  Pundits and press start to ramp up their post-mortem on Twitter. Henry Winter sums it up pretty well.

FA, Hodgson & players should issue an apology to #eng fans who spent fortunes travelling to #WorldCup for this humiliation. Not even pens

— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) June 20, 2014

Alex

Read all about my World Cup odyssey on Ladbrokes News and follow me on Twitter @LadsAlex!

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