No 1 is adamant that Hodgson and Co will be on the plane to Rio this time next year.
England keeper Joe Hart says that he and his fellow Three Lions team-mates are not even contemplating failing to qualify for next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil, reports the Sunday Mirror.
Roy Hodgson and his team are currently in the host nation preparing for a friendly international against the five-time world champions that takes place in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday night at the famous Maracana stadium.
However, away from the matter of warm-up fixtures, England remain very much in the middle of a tight four-way fight to make it back to Rio next summer for Fifa’s global show-piece event.
Currently, Hodgson and Co are sitting in second place in their World Cup qualifying group, two points behind surprise leaders Montenegro, who take on Ukraine in a fixture of huge importance to England next weekend.
Hart, though, is insistent that the Three Lions are not thinking about the unthinkable at present as they go in search of the four straight qualifying wins that would guarantee them an automatic place at the 2014 tournament.
“Not qualifying isn’t really the way we think. We don’t live in fear of that happening because we know we have some good positive games at home,” said Hart, who has been capped on 31 occasions by his country since making his international bow in 2008.
“And if we win all our remaining games, which is certainly within our power, we will be here next summer.
“It’s good to be out here to see that Brazil is going to be a really exciting place to be in sport over the next couple of years. It’s good to be involved in that.
“But being here now and getting a flavour of the atmosphere in Rio hasn’t sharpened the focus at all.
“I don’t think anything can make me more determined from my initial goal of qualifying for the World Cup.
“We have always known that is our target in all the qualifying games we have played. We have put ourselves to the test and unfortunately sometimes we haven’t got the results we have wanted in a few of the games.
“But we have still put ourselves in a position to finish strongly. We have home games to play against Moldova, Montenegro and Poland, and a tough away game in Ukraine. Hopefully, we can win them.”
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