England manager Roy Hodgson believes Chelsea's Champions League triumph proves that underdogs can win major tournaments.
The former Liverpool boss admitted that England are 'far from being favourites' to win the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but refused to rule out their chances.
Spain have dominated the international stage in recent years but Hodgson pointed to Chelsea's shock results against Barcelona and Bayern Munich in Europe's premier competition as cause for optimism.
"You could say we are far from being favourites (for the World Cup) so therefore it's (winning it) not a likelihood," he told the BBC. "But you've got to shy away from 'impossible' in football.
"There are plenty of events that we could point to in footballing terms that you could have said were impossible, but people have done it.
"It wasn't likely that Chelsea would become champions of Europe, especially having to change their manager in mid-stream but they did.
"That was by beating Barcelona and Bayern Munich, two of the best teams in Europe along the way, so I'd like to keep that dream alive."
Hodgson pointed to the strength of the Premier League as proof of the potential of the England national team despite the amount of foreigners starring in the country's top flight.
"I hope that I will never be tripped into saying, 'well, we don't have enough players or there's not enough players good enough to play for England' because that would be a very sad indictment," he continued.
