Jose Mourinho believes England did not have “the football gods” on their side at the World Cup

England after their loss to Uruguay in the second match of the FIFA World cup

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes England’s exit from the World Cup was unlucky after losing their two opening games to Italy and Uruguay.

England lost 2-1 to both Italy and Uruguay - and their exit was confirmed yesterday when Costa Rica beat the Italians to advance to the knockout stage and officially remove the English from the competition, marking their worst performance at the tournament since 1958.

Mourinho, who finished third in the Premier League with Chelsea last season, believes England should not be ashamed with their performance in Brazil as they had no luck.

Some believe it was just down to shoddy defending for all four goals conceded in the opening two games, but the Portuguese, who is tipped to one day manage his country, believes it was down to luck.

Roy Hodgson took a youthful squad to the tournament, England’s youngest since 1958, and coincidentally that was the last time they exited the group stages at the World Cup.

“I don’t feel comfortable to criticise England because I think they shouldn’t be ashamed of this situation,” the Portuguese told Yahoo.

“They did not have the football gods on their side.

“England was not lucky. For some reason it’s possible that you have three world champions and three strong teams like Uruguay, Italy and England in the same group.

“England did well, played well, competed well, started both matches very well, was not afraid of Uruguay and was not afraid of Italy.”