England skipper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Steven-Gerrard-c34196 thinks that his side have responded in just about the perfect manner to the harsh criticism hurled at them before the start of the European Championships by making it into the quarterfinal, and admitted that things
have started to shape up nicely for them.
The Three Lions, labelled as major tournament failures time and again, got their Euro 2012 campaign off to a slow start with a jittery 1-1 draw against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sweden-c3015 in the next game. With Roy
Hodgson’s side requiring just a single point out of their final Group D fixture to qualify for the quarterfinals, they progressed into the last-eight in style, getting the better of co-hosts http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ukraine-c3032 to claim the top spot in the group.
Despite being marred by multiple injuries and also witnessing change in management last month, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 have been in sublime touch lately winning 4 of their last 5 matches.
Gerrard heaped praise on his side for of not being let down by their disparagement by the media at the eve of the tournament, and instead silencing their critics with solid performance.
He told the reporters in an interview, “We have been criticised in the past for not turning up at times and underperforming. We can take that, we are man enough to take that criticism, the important thing is to respond and react.”
“I think you are seeing a reaction from this team. When you get criticism it isn’t nice, so you have to respond and that is what we are doing.”
However, England’s win against Ukraine came in controversial circumstances, as Marko Devic’s deflected shot crossed the goal-line before the ball was being cleared by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Terry-c18895, with the assistant referee wrongly adjudicating the decision in England’s favour.
Gerrard admitted the Three Lions rode their luck on way to victory, and believed that a slice of good fortune was necessary for any team in a major tournament like Euro.
Hodgson’s side will take on http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926 in the quarterfinal clash on Sunday.
Talking of their opponents, the 32-year old thinks that Cesare Prandelli’s unit had a couple of match winners in their dugout, and the match promises to be an exciting one.
He added, “Italy are good defensively and have match-winners so we have to respect them.”
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