http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926 on Sunday, and believes they can even upstage the
likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904.
The 26-year old missed out on his country’s first two matches against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ukraine-c3032 to send them through into the knock-out stage.
As England prepare to take on the former European champions, Rooney unravelled that he was in a more imperturbable mood and was feeling lesser pressure, than the previous international tournaments that he had featured in.
He told the reporters in an interview, “I feel good. I feel fresh. In some ways, missing the first two games may help me in the later games. So I’ll be ready. I’m looking forward to it.”
The Manchester United luminary pointed out that people were casting doubts over England’s potential of beating Italy on Sunday, overlooking the fact that a win would provide them the perfect impetus for the later stages.
Given the Three Lions get the better of the Azzurri in the quarterfinals, it will mark the first time in sixteen years that they will go on to qualify for the semi-finals in the European championships.
In their head-to-head race, Italy leads England with 9 wins to 7 in their 22 competitive fixtures.
Even if Roy Hodgson’s side are able to get the better of Italy, they will then have to square off against the mighty Germans in the last-four, and might even take on the defending Champions Spain in the final.
However, Rooney refused to be intimidated by their potential opponents later on in the tournament, claiming that his side are better prepared this time around, and will be a tough team to beat.
He added, “Germany look strong, well organised; and obviously Spain too…They tire you out, wear you down, sometimes it is difficult to play against.”
“All I’m going to say is we’ve got the squad, we’re more organised than we have ever been and we are hard to beat now.”
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