Roy Hodgson happy with underdog status

England manager Roy Hodgson has revealed that he is pleased that England missed out on being a top seed for the 2014 World Cup.

Hodgson said that being regarded as one of the favourites would put pressure on his team and believes that they can now just play their own game.

"It's pretty obvious we're not favourites," BBC Sport quotes Hodgson as saying. "The main contenders are Brazil, Argentina, Spain and Germany I guess.

"No-one thought Greece would win the Euros in Portugal [in 2004] or for Denmark to get their players off the beach in 1992, but they did.

"Every year it gets that little bit harder to look beyond the favourites but I am pretty sure all the European teams will be hoping to become the first one to reverse the trend."

England won their final two qualifiers at Wembley to top their group.