Hodgson still in job because he`s English, says Sven

The only reason Roy Hodgson has been allowed to carry on as England manager after their World Cup fiasco is because he is English, the team`s former manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has said.

Eriksson, who led England from 2001 to 2006 and took them to the quarter-finals of three major tournaments, told the SportExpressen newspaper that a foreign manager who presided over such poor results would have been fired immediately. "Roy Hodgson stays because he is an Englishman. Had he been a foreigner, there is not a chance in the world he would have been left in the job," said the 66-year-old, who is now head coach of Chinese Super League side Guanzhou R&F. Having suffered 2-1 defeats by fellow former World Cup winners Italy and Uruguay, England are bottom of Group D and cannot reach the knockout stage. Their final game is against surprise leaders Costa Rica in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday. "I think things have changed. When I was (with) England, expectations were that we would get to the semi-finals and finals," Eriksson said. "Now, before the World Cup, it was all about getting out of the group.  "When I had the national team we always talked of quarter-finals, semi-finals. If I hadn`t taken England to the quarter-finals of three tournaments, I`d never have been allowed to stay." Eriksson`s private life featured heavily in Britain`s tabloid newspapers until his departure from the England job after the 2006 World Cup, but he feels he has unfinished business with the national team. "If they`re aren`t going to keep Hodgson they can just as well bring me back, so I can finish what I started," the Swede was quoted as saying by SportExpressen.