Roy Hodgson has admitted that the pressure of playing at a World Cup in Brazil could jeopardise England’s chances of winning the tournament.

In a frank and honest assessment, the head coach said he fears the expectation from family and friends could affect his players.

England face Italy in Manaus in their opening group game and go on to play Uruguay (Sao Paulo) and Costa Rica (Belo Horizonte).

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Hodgson, who will name a 23-man squad plus seven stand-by players on May 12, said: ‘There’s a lot of pressure from family and friends, those type of things.

'My biggest fear is we’ll come away from the World Cup knowing that if we’d just been a bit more relaxed and our minds were a bit more free we could’ve done a bit better.'

'The fear is that the pressure gets on top of the players and we aren’t able to get close to what I know this team can produce.'

England have failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals of a World Cup since Bobby Robson took the team to the last four of Italia 90.

To help England’s players adapt to a tournament environment, Hodgson has brought in psychiatrist Steve Peters, who works with Liverpool.

Hodgson also held a two-hour meeting with Team Sky chief Sir Dave Brailsford to discuss preparations.

Serial winner: Sir Dave Brailsford (pictured talking to Chris Froome) has been consulted by Roy Hodgson ahead of the World Cup

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Brailsford has huge experience of taking Team Sky away for long periods at the Tour de France and Hodgson wanted to tap into his vast knowledge before the World Cup.

Hodgson is in negotiations with Premier League clubs over the release of players before the tournament. Manchester City travel to Abu Dhabi for a friendly on May 15 and wish to take goalkeeper Joe Hart and midfielder James Milner. The club insist the pair will not play.

Hodgson added: 'I sent a letter on FA paper to the clubs, giving them our programme and asking them to be aware that my intention was that, from the last game of the  season, the players should be totally free until we meet up — to get a break from football.'

'That’s what we would like, but the bottom line is that we have no control over it.' He added: 'What I do have is the authority to keep the players from May 19 as the FIFA regulations say so.'

Safe hands: Joe Hart is one of the first names on Hodgson's team sheet

Hodgson has also accepted another decision ahead of the World Cup after Manchester United starlet Adnan Januzaj pledged his international future to Belgium.

The FA had gone to considerable lengths to persuade the winger, who was born in Brussels, to commit to England.

Under FIFA statutes he could have switched nationalities and played for England in 2018. Hodgson added: 'I don’t see what the fuss is about. If a player isn’t  eligible to play for England until 2018, what’s the problem if he goes and plays for someone else? He’s not English anyway, let’s be fair.'

'How can you be upset in 2014 if he plays for one of the other countries he’s eligible for? He was born and brought up in Belgium. We can’t be disappointed by that.'

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Instead Hodgson is devoting his energy to the build-up and the  confirmation of the 23 names he will be taking to Brazil.

Leighton Baines is the established England left-back and it is a close call between Ashley Cole and Luke Shaw to be cast as understudy. Hodgson was still giving nothing away.

He maintains that he is under no pressure from FA chairman Greg Dyke to pick young players to give them tournament experience as part of his wide-ranging reforms to be announced next week.

Hodgson added: 'The fact that Ashley hasn’t played much won’t affect me that much, but it is a long time to be out and in the shadows.'

'I have never thought, "I can’t now pick Ashley Cole because he hasn’t played the last 18 games".'

'I don’t feel any pressure at all from the FA other than to pick the squad that they know I should be happy with. So I don’t feel under any pressure whatsoever.'

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Hodgson also backed captain Steven Gerrard to put last Sunday’s mistake at Anfield against Chelsea behind him when Liverpool visit Crystal Palace on Monday.

Gerrard was distraught after his slip allowed Demba Ba to score.

Hodgson said: 'He’s very strong mentally. He’s a bit down because it was a big game and a defeat when they were being built up to an extent and, unfortunately, his mistake cost them the match.'