England coach Roy Hodgson defended Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney after their World Cup defeat to Italy.
Rooney struggled to have an impact, though laid on the cross for Liverpool striker Danny Sturridge's first-half goal.
Hodgson said: "We wanted to get Raheem Sterling around because of his agility and of course that meant moving Wayne Rooney and I thought that worked well, He set up the goal for us, he worked very hard and did well also when we brought him back into the centre.
"There's always going to be one player who there's a big debate around but I think it's very harsh to criticise Rooney's performance today because for me he played."
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