England skipper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926 on a penalty shoot-out in the quarterfinals of the European Championships, and admitted he was ‘heartbroken’ over the manner of their
exit.
As neither team managed to find the back of the net in 120 minutes of play, the ensuing shoot-out saw Ashley Young and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ashley-Cole-c6809 miss from their respective spot kicks, as the Azzurri edged the Three Lions 4-2 on the tiebreaker to book a semi-final date
with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904.
The result meant that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 have now lost 6 of their 7 matches decided on a penalty shoot-out in major tournaments.
After emerging as Group D winners courtesy their wins over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ukraine-c3032, Roy Hodgson’s outfit managed to draw attention towards themselves as one of the leading contenders for the title, but just like on countless other occasions, lost their nerve
in pressure situation.
Following the defeat, Gerrard bemoaned his team’s bad luck of bowing out of the tournament, despite putting up a wonderful performance in the entire competition.
He told the reporters in an interview, “The players have given everything. I thought we might have the luck in the penalty shoot-out but it wasn't to be.”
“The lads at the back were fantastic, we have done the country proud but we go home heartbroken and that is hard to take.”
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wayne-Rooney-c36736 also voiced his dismay over exiting from the tournament, and conceded that he was totally oblivious to the reason why England ends up on the losing side on penalty shoot-outs.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Theo-Walcott-c34873 felt his team run out of luck against the Italians, despite having a good share of it in their preceding games, but believes they will be a much better side in the coming years.
He said, “We'll be much stronger next year. We couldn't get the goal at the start and Buffon made some world-class saves. We've had some luck, at times, but tonight, it didn't go our way.”
Striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Danny-Welbeck-c10233 said that featuring in the European Championships was an invaluable experience for him, but was disappointed he could not go a step further with the team in the event.
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