Set egos aside, says Hodgson

England coach Roy Hodgson has warned his players to sacrifice their egos for the good of the team at the World Cup lest they end up like the strife-torn France side of the 2010 finals.

France endured a dismal World Cup at South Africa, crashing out of the group stage after the expulsion of forward Nicolas Anelka from the squad following a heated clash with then-coach Raymond Domenech and a subsequent players’ revolt.

Hodgson said he would be quick to knock any threats to team harmony on the head in Brazil where England will play Group D rivals Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica when the tournament kicks off next month.

“One thing is for certain: there's no chance for any team in the World Cup if they're not in it together,” he told British media.

“We've seen that in the past, examples where teams who were not together, like France in the last one where all the problems were coming out.

“If you want to win any tournament, if you want to win a league for that matter, you'd better make certain that you as a team are all together. That you're all singing off the same hymn sheet, that you all have the same aspirations and that you're all prepared to make sacrifices for each other.

“... The thing you can control is your teamwork, making sure you choose a group of players who are prepared to work as a team, that you deal with any problems that come up from individuals that are trying to eat away at the fabric of your team and maybe destroy your teamwork.”