http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926 on Sunday.
England pipped http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sweden-c3015 in the night’s other action. Consequently, the Three Lions avoided going at loggerheads with the mighty Spanish side in the quarterfinal,
forcing Laurent Blanc’s team to the task of getting the better of the tournament favourites and the defending champions.
With Ukraine launching a flurry of attacks right from the start as they faced a must-win situation in the final group fixture, the Yellow-Blues were denied time and again by a robust English defence, who prevented the Ukrainian attackers from scoring in
the entire game.
Parker admitted that his side were forced on the back foot as a result of their opponents’ offensive approach, but commended the efforts of the defenders for keeping them at bay.
While talking to reporters, he said: “I think everyone man-for-man stood up and was counted for. The back four were immense and everyone deserves massive credit really.”
“They had some good chances but I think if there's one thing we've shown during this tournament it's that we've got some good resilience about us. We really dogged it out.”
England, who were stationed alongside France, Sweden and Ukraine in Group D, were heavily favoured to progress to the next round along with the Les Bleus before the start of the tournament.
The 31-year old called upon his side not to congratulate themselves as yet, as they need to cross multiple hurdles in the coming days in order to grab their first major title win in 46 years.
He added, “We've done pretty well. We realise it's just the start and we move on to the next game now but hopefully we can keep going.”
He went on to say that England will face formidable opponents in Italy on Sunday, who boosted a strong squad but was satisfied with their preparation ahead of the engrossing fixture.
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