England captain http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Steven-Gerrard-c34196 believes that his side will go into the European Championships next month as the underdogs, and therefore will be under less pressure to meet the expectations of the fans and the media.
The eagerly awaited Euro 2012 will kick-off on the 8th of June, co-hosted by Ukraine and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ukraine-c3032.
England, who are currently ranked 7th in the FIFA rankings, have never won the European Championships. Their best performance in the tournament was a semi-final finish way back in 1996.
However, Gerrard was of the opinion that England can break their major cup hoodoo this time around, as there is little hype over their chances of winning the contest in the loud and vocal English media.
He also put forward the example of the newly crowned Champions League winners Chelsea, pointing out that they managed to overcome all the odds to lift their first major European accolade.
He told the club’s official website, “Look at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604, but they're European champions and they deserve it.”
“So there is a chance when it comes to any big prize in football that the team which isn't the favourite can win it.”
The 31-year old also recounted his past experience of going into the major tournaments, and believed that the media and the fans tend to create a sensational buzz over England’s prospects of winning, building an impression that they were the favourites when
actually they were not.
He continued, “Maybe we go into tournaments believing we're better than we are… Sometimes we thought we only had to turn up with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 because we had a lot of top players.”
Gerrard also mentioned that he was honoured to be appointed the skipper of national side, having missed out on the chance under the former managers. He revealed that since his childhood, people around him would tell him that he would go on to become a captain
of the Three Lions one day, and felt proud to vindicate their belief and trust.
Tags: