Satisfied Hodgson proud of his Lions

England survived a firsthalf mauling by Brazil, who had 30 shots – 20 at goal – while the visiting side managed eight in response, seven of which were on target.

Brazil had taken the lead through Fred, before England stunned the Maracana crowd to go 2-1 in front, only for Paulinho’s outstanding volley to level the scores.

Hodgson said: ‘‘The simple answer is that I do think we were well worthy of the draw.

‘‘I was delighted with how we kept ourselves in the game and didn’t capitulate despite them being clearly better than us in the first half.

‘‘In the second half we were every bit as good and we should take lot of credit for that. The shot statistics weren’t raved about in Ireland game – the complaint was that we didn’t win.

‘‘Most teams, managers and coaches know that when you come to Brazil and play them they will have more of ball and create more chances. The question is if you can deal with it and come away with a result and that’s what we did.

‘‘The clever money would have had us struggling to get any sort of result, not least because of the trip and being down to the bare bones with injuries.

‘‘But we were desperate to give a good impression and finish the season on a positive note. I’m delighted that was what we did.’’ Hodgson said he would love to return for the World Cup and be based in Rio but knows there are tough qualification games ahead.

England are currently second in Group H, two points off leaders Montenegro, who they must face at Wembley.

He said: ‘‘We’re a work in progress. We face stiff opposition and have a lot of work to do before we can think about 2014. But I am very confident we can and games like this increase confidence and make us even more determined to be part of the party the World Cup will be.’’ Keeper Joe Hart was England’s outstanding player but the goals were both worthy strikes to light up the Maracana.

Hodgson added: ‘‘Joe was busier than normally is. In the first half he made some good saves and was very good at supporting the defence. The pitch was not very fast and meant ball held up.

‘‘Our first goal was one that pleased us because of buildup by Wayne and then the strike.

‘‘Then for the second Wayne is always dangerous cutting in. Maybe there was a little deflection but even without that it still would have had Julio Cesar at full-stretch.

Neymar plays the ball ahead of Theo Walcott

‘‘Their first was a bit fortunate that the ball rebounded off the crossbar, I thought it was going over, but the second was a very fine cross and a wonderful volley and you just have to take your hat off to that.’’ Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said he had shaken Hodgson’s hand and wished him good luck to return for the World Cup next year – but he also bemoaned his side’s profligacy in front of goal.

Scolari admitted: ‘‘I hope England come to the World Cup. When I spoke to Roy just now I said I hope to see you at the World Cup and that we will meet again.

“But we know in Europe that is difficult, much more difficult than qualifying in South America where we have four or five from ten teams.

‘‘England are an excellent team who are well-organised but will be facing some difficulties to be the first in their group.

‘‘In a group where you have ten games if you make a mistake in one or two games you might have a problem to qualify automatically and you might have to go to the playoffs.

I had this problem with Portugal.

‘‘England are very good but they have to be very careful.’’ Former Chelsea head coach Scolari said Brazil paid the price for not taking their chances in the first half.

He added: ‘‘In this match England had only seven shots and scored twice while we had 30 shots altogether and only scored two goals.

‘‘So something wasn’t working in our attempts on goal.

We have to take advantage of the opportunities when they arise.

‘‘In the first half we had an excellent game but I didn’t like the second.

“It became a very open game and we started giving our opponents the chance to score, I don’t want that to happen.’’