England have once again floundered at a major tournament, but FA technical director Dan Ashworth remains confident they are on course to win the 2022 World Cup.

A year to the day since the senior team’s disastrous World Cup came to a close, Wednesday evening looked like a great chance to inject some positivity back into the national game.

Instead, England Under-21s blew the chance to progress to the semi-finals, with the 3-1 defeat to Italy resulting in a third successive group-stage exit from the European Championship.

Such failings at major tournaments is becoming all too frequent and the latest disappointment raises more questions about the state of the national game.

It makes FA chairman Greg Dyke’s target of winning the World Cup in Qatar look increasingly unrealistic, but technical director Ashworth – much like head coach Gareth Southgate – is confident they can triumph in 2022.

“Yeah, why not?” he said.

“A few days after getting knocked out of the 21s people will probably read this with a smile on their face and think I’m deluded.

“I honestly believe we have players in the system, those players we have already talked about, who were not here, players in the Premier League.

“The seniors have gone unbeaten for a season for the first time in god knows how many years.

“The signs are there and we have the players in the development programmes.

“Nine of this squad can go again to the U21s campaign and the work the clubs are doing with the EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan) has and will make a big impact.

“I am still convinced it is realistic. I am absolutely convinced you’ll see improvements in the senior performances.”

Ashworth’s comments will raise eyebrows given the current crop of Under-21s will likely form the nucleus of the senior team seven years from now.

While Harry Kane, John Stones and Jack Butland should be among them, a number of players in the Czech Republic may never represent their country again given the huge step up to senior international football.

That in itself fuels the debate of whether eligible big names such as Raheem Sterling, Jack Wilshere and Ross Barkley should have been included in this summer’s squad.

Ashworth believes they made the right decision but former England striker Gary Lineker labelled the policy “indefensible”, saying it was an “exasperatingly amateurish approach”.

“We will never know whether five or six of those players would have been beneficial for this particular tournament,” Ashworth said.

“We made our decision and live or die by that decision.

“One of the difficulties is that depth of squad, depth of players Hodgson has at his disposal.

“If we had a deeper pool of players, that would put less pressure on the 21s moving up into seniors, the ones who have done so and deservedly so.

“You will always get through players who have moved through the system quicker than others.

“Wayne Rooney was a great example – at 16, 17, physically he is a man, playing first-team football. He accelerates through the system into the seniors quicker than others.”

Asked if he was the right man for the job and whether the system is working for the English FA, Ashworth said: “Absolutely, of course I am.

“People can get their excuses in early and twist it however you want but we are effectively a year into a journey, into a plan.”