England manager Roy Hodgson believes his side can still reach the next stage of the World Cup despite losing to Italy.
The Three Lions were beaten by goals from Claudio Marchisio and Mario Balotelli, with Daniel Sturridge netting in reply.
England are third after the first round of games, above Uruguay, their next opponents, on goal difference after they were beaten 3-1 by Costa Rica.
“It was undoubtedly the best I have seen us play, as a team, in my time with them,” Hodgson told the BBC.
“It's tough to accept we lost. But I've got great confidence we can do well enough in the next games to qualify.
“Of course we can still qualify. We're a bit downhearted at the moment, a bit sad that the game didn't go our way – we were hoping for a perfect start but we don't live in a perfect world.
“In the second half, we did everything but score.
“We know we played against a good team and to take them so close gives us great confidence that we can do well against Uruguay and Costa Rica and still progress in the tournament.”
