Put your socks back on, turn off your calculators and no need to study up on the law of probability after Costa Rica followed up their demolition of Uruguay with a thoroughly well-deserved victory over Italy, the 1966 World Cup winners can pack their bags for home. You have to go all the way back to Sweden 1958 for the last time England was knocked out of a World Cup at the Group Stage. At least then England went into their third and final group game against the Soviet Union knowing even a draw may have been enough to reach the knockout stage. Outside of other World Cups where England were either not permitted to enter, or were eliminated in qualifying, Brazil 2014 now ranks as their worst ever showing at a World Cup. This for the nation that sowed Planet Futbols roots. They may have performed admirably against Brazil last spring when they drew the hosts 2-2 to launch the renovated Maracana but England and Brazilian World Cups make strange bedfellows. Humbled by the US, they also failed to advance from the group when Brazil last hosted in 1950. The tabloid daggers will be calling for Roy Hodgsons head. Any thought of that, though, has been dismissed by the FA chairman, Greg Dyke who throws his full support behind the beleaguered manager and stated Hodgson would lead England through EURO 2016. From technical deficiencies, an inability to maintain possession or tactical naivety right on through the plethora of theories which abound, the plain fact of the matter is England dont do international football tournaments. Their 14th appearance at a World Cup, and outside of the lone triumph on home soil in 1966, Italia 90 was the only other time England have got past the quarterfinal stage Underprepared was the excuse trotted out for SA2010, what was it this time? An excuse which will get trotted out is the abundance of overseas players in the Barclays Premier League which limits the prospects and options of English players at the top level. When I was a kid, England failed to qualify for the 1974 and 1978 World Cups at a time a significant majority of the players in the top flight were English. It will take more than regular appointments with globally renowned Sports Psychologist, Dr. Steve Peters who joined Hodgsons backroom staff back in March, to understand why failure stalks and hounds England. Having worked marvels with the London 2012 GB Cycling Team, Peters was tasked with ensuring England played with an absence of fear. Hardly. Level heads dont aimlessly hoof balls away, as we often saw when Uruguay threatened. As all good dramas need a villain, so who better than Englands Tormentor in Chief on Thursday, Luis Suarez. David Beckham filled that role in 1998 after he was sent off in the Round of 16 match against Argentina. Such was the outcry still months later, an effigy of Beckham was hung up outside a pub near West Hams ground on the day Manchester United were playing at Upton Park. Anything like that occurs; Suarez could use it as reason not to return to Liverpool. Earlier on Friday the Spanish newspaper, El Mundo Deportivo reported there is a €80m ($110m) release clause in the Uruguayans contract that Barcelona are close to striking. The post-match comments from Suarez where he rebuked the English public and took to task Roy Hodgson could be taken as an indicator of an Anfield exit strategy. In the mould of the French Football Federations Clairefontaine, or the FIGCs Coverciano facility the opening in late 2012 of St Georges Park which is home to all levels for both the England men and womens national teams will certainly be of benefit to the next generation. However, for the more senior members of the squad this was their last shot at World Cup glory. Following one of his worst performances in an England shirt Thursday, where his mistakes led to both of Uruguays goals, it was not the way Steven Gerrard would have wanted to exit the international arena. The Liverpool captain is expected to announce his international retirement following the World Cup. This may come even as early as following the final whistle next Tuesday when Costa Rica will be looking for the scalp of a previous World Cup champ for a third straight time game. Not bad for an island nation. Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca @TheSoccerNoel on Twitter TSN Radio is an official licensed radio broadcaster of the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Brazil. Check www.tsn.ca/radio for the broadcast schedule in your home town. Phillies Jerseys China . - Rookie Tesho Akindele scored three goals and Fabian Castillo added two in FC Dallas 5-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night. 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A controversial penalty in the dying minutes made sure of that. The Canadians dropped a 19-17 decision to Scotland in an international Test match at BMO Field -- a country that sits a full eight positions higher than them on the world rankings. But Canada was in position to win with five minutes to go when the referee reversed his decision on a call, after originally awarding Canada a penalty kick. "Im gutted actually for the guys, they really put it all in," said Canadian coach Kieran Crowley. "Positives are . . . we ran a Tier 1 country to two points, thats a pretty good effort." On the controversial play in the 75th minute, Canadian flanker Jebb Sinclair had the ball, his forearm made contact with Ruaridh Jackson, and the Scottish player was knocked out cold. The referee initially awarded a penalty kick to Canada, but reversed the call after reviewing video. "I dont know what you mean to do with your elbow in that situation when a guy gets his head on the wrong side," Crowley said "He refereed it how he saw it, and I thought it was the wrong decision. But thats the way he sees it." Jeff Hassler scored Canadas lone try while James Pritchard booted for 12 Canadian points. Grant Gilchrist scored the single try for Scotland, while Greig Laidlaw kicked four penalties and a conversion. Hassler scored in the 23rd minute, after Ciaran Hearn broke through the Scottish midfield and sprinted 30 metres down the sideline in front of a red-and-clad crowd of 18,788 fans -- plus the odd Scottish fan dressed in a kilt -- at BMO Field. "Its always good to get one on the board early in front of the home fans, it was a bit of a spark for us, just good team play and a good finish," Hassler said. The Canadians were looking to bounce back from a 34-25 loss to Japan in a Pacific Nations Cup game a week earlier in Burnaby, B.C. -- an ugly affair that saw the Canadians give up 25 unanswered points in the second half. While it was expected the No. 16-ranked Canadians would be in for a much tougher afternoon against the eighth-ranked Scots, they made Scotland work for the win -- the first Scottish victory on Canadian soil. "Its pretty gutting," Hassler said of the close loss. "Its not the first time weve been in that position and its something that we as a Canadian team need to improve on and start knocking off some of these teams in the last couple of minutes of the game. Locker-room is pretty disappointed, but we know were right there." Gilchrist scored in the 27th minute, muscling his way across the try line after some strong work from the Scottish forwards. Scotland took a 13-8 lead into the dressing room at halftime. Pritchard booted four penalty kicks, plus a conversion. He had a chance to give Canada the lead with 15 minutes to play, but his kick banged off the post. He made good on his next attempt to put the Canadians up 17-16. But Laidlaw booted his fourth of the day to put the Scots back on top with eigght minutes to play.dddddddddddd Stuart Hogg also had a penalty kick for the Scots, who were coming off a 24-6 victory over the United States a week earlier in Houston. "Not happy at all with the outcome," said Canadian captain Tyler Ardron. "Im sure that call (on Sinclair) is whats going to be talked a lot about this week, but in all honesty I dont think it should have come down to that. I think we should have closed it out before that and its shouldnt have made a difference." Despite the close loss, Ardron said this game didnt sit with him any better than last weeks defeat at the hands of Japan. "Its the same feeling, I think we should have won both those games, but its not good enough to sit back and say we should have won those games," he said. "We have to win them. If we want to get to where we feel we should be, thats got to be our attitude." Scotlands coach Vern Cotter admitted the call on Sinclair that reduced Canada to 14 men "changed momentum" of the game. "(The Canadians) were attacking at that stage," said Cotter, after his second game with Scotland. "Always in these games, little things make the difference. A little thing turned out to be a big thing and had a reasonably big consequence on the result." Cotter praised the Canadian side that is "developing rapidly." He added the Canadians clearly came out at the opening whistle bent on making up for last weekends disappointing result against Japan. "They were very angry, you could see in the first couple of rucks, there was a couple of exchanges, they obviously wanted to impose physically," Cotter said. "I think thats part of their team psyche, they enjoy that type of thing. "I think they played particularly well. . . theyre doing some good things." The BMO Field crowd was positive on the afternoon -- another strong rugby turnout at the lakeside venue that Canadian players have dubbed their unofficial home. Some 22,566 fans squeezed into BMO Field to watch the Maori All Blacks beat the Canadians 40-15 there last November -- a North American record crowd for the sport. Canadas loss to Ireland a few months earlier drew 20,396 fans to the stadium that is normally home to Major League Soccers Toronto FC. "It felt awesome," said Ardron, who grew up in Lakefield, Ont., just north of Peterborough. "Its so hard to comment on how good it felt now after such a devastating loss, a close game like that. But having the support behind us the whole game felt great." The game was Scotlands first victory over Canada on Canadian soil. Canada had beaten Scotland twice at home -- 24-19 in 1991 in Saint John, N.B., and 26-23 in Vancouver in 2002. Theyve met two times in Scotland, both Scottish victories -- 22-2 in Edinburgh in 1995 and 41-0 in Aberdeen in 2008. The game was halted for about 10 minutes midway through the first half while medical staff attended to Scotlands Alasdair Strokosch. Strokosch was eventually wheeled off the pitch on a stretcher. The Canadians face the United States next Saturday in a Pacific Nations Cup game in Sacramento, Calif. ' ' '