England v Costa Rica: 'Prince Harry could have inspired team at earlier matches' says FA chairman Greg Dyke
Prince Harry watched the match during his tour of Brazil and Chile
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Your support makes all the difference.Prince Harry watched the knocked-out England team’s final match in the Fifa 2014 World Cup on Tuesday, after FA chairman Greg Dyke suggested that the royal could have boosted the squad's chance of qualifying by attending matches last week.
Mr Dyke met the Prince in the city of Belo Horizonte where the national team played against Costa Rica on Tuesday evening.
On Monday, the Prince started his official seven day tour of Brazil and Chile, and said he was “really sad” about the football team being knocked out of the tournament after losing their first two group stage matches.
The Prince and FA chairman met when they attended an event at the Minas Tenis Clube, a sports complex which will be one of the venues for Team GB and Paralympics GB's training camp ahead of Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Mr Dyke said: “It's a shame Harry didn't come last week, he probably would have helped.”
He added: “I feel really sorry for Harry and our fans that we didn't have a chance of staying on - but that's life.
"It's such small margins, we basically played better here then we have for the last two World Cups."
The two men chatted during a business brunch at the sports centre, where the Prince explained to the FA chairman that he had not travelled specifically for the England game.
They were both also shown a rare copy of the original regulations for football - drawn up in 1863 – before it is presented to the Sao Paulo football museum.
Harry told Mr Dyke: "The couple of games that I watched I thought that we played really well.
"It's the best England team we've had for some time - but hey, you win some you lose some."
Additional reporting by PA
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