England coach Roy Hodgson admits Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney failed to meet expectations at the Euros. Hodgson - who hailed the Manchester United striker as England's version of Pele earlier in the tournament - accepts Roo failed to rise to the occasion like Italian playmaker Andrea Pirlo did in Kiev.

Hodgson, who flew home with the squad yesterday, said: "He certainly tried very hard but he didn't have his best game. I think he would admit that.

"That might be down to a number of factors but I don't think fitness was a particular one. You can put a lot of things down to fitness but there was no reason for us to doubt his fitness.

"His running stats in the training sessions and the games were actually very good.

"But I think we put a lot of expectations on him.

"When he missed the first two games through suspension, we all believed that what we needed to do then was get to the third game and Wayne would win us the championships. That maybe was too much to ask of him."