Roy Hodgson has admitted that England lost to the "better team" in their 2-0 defeat against Chile tonight.

Alexis Sanchez scored in either half for the visitors, while England were unable to get the better of their opponents for the majority of the 90 minutes.

Speaking after the match, Hodgson defended his decision to experiment with his team, but added that Chile were adept at taking "the sting" out of the game.

"The experimenting does not totally explain the result. We played against a very good team and from a goal down it was always going to be difficult," he told BBC Sport.

"We came back into the game well but Chile knew how to take the sting out of the game. There were a lot of stoppages and to be frank Chile were the better team."

Hodgson also said that he learned "a lot" about his players, while they now better understand what it is like to play against South American teams.

He added: "We were unlucky to lose by two goals when pushing forward but we learned a lot tonight about our squad of players and what it's like to play against South American opposition."

England face Germany next Tuesday at Wembley in another friendly.

Written by
Gary Peters