England stepped up its World Cup agonizing Sunday with Premier League manager Harry Redknapp claiming some young players had sought to avoid international duty as he raised doubts over their commitment.
England's calamitous early exit from the tournament has caused a bitter new round of soul-searching by football leaders and politicians over the state of the national game.
Queens Park Rangers boss Redknapp, once a candidate for the England job now held by Roy Hodgson, weighed in by saying too many young players seek to escape national duty.
"There are too many pull-outs, it seems to be everyone has got an excuse," he told BBC radio.
"And I can tell you when I was at Tottenham, when full internationals came around, there were two or three players who did not want to play for England," said Redknapp.
"They would come to me 10 days before the game and say, 'Gaffer, get me out of that game, I don't want to play in that game'.
"That was how it was. I'd say, 'you're playing for your country, you should want to play'."
Redknapp said the players would tell him "'Nah, my girlfriend is having a baby in four weeks, I don't want to play' and that is the truth, so it makes you wonder.
"And I think it's only going to get worse. You see the stick the England players get and they come home. They're earning fantastic money at their clubs, they're all playing in the Champions League. They think, 'Do we need the aggro?'"
England went out after consecutive 2-1 Group D defeats to Italy and Uruguay. They will leave Brazil after playing surprise group leaders Costa Rica on Tuesday.
England players led by Wayne Rooney have apologised to fans while facing often vitriolic criticism from British media, some of whom have called them "idiots".
