England talking like England
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Rooney: We can go all the way
England striker confident after scoring winner
Wayne Rooney is confident of England's chances© Getty Images
Wayne Rooney believes England can achieve Euro 2012 glory after he fired the Three Lions into the quarter-finals by scoring the winner against Ukraine on Tuesday.
Rooney headed home a deflected Steven Gerrard cross in the 48th minute in the final Group D clash to seal England’s spot in the final eight with a 1-0 victory. 2006 World Cup winners Italy lie in wait, but Rooney insists all remaining teams in the tournament will be hoping to avoid England.
“Italy will be difficult for us but we believe in ourselves,” he said. “We expect to do well as a team, whether people expect us to or not. We have stuck together, worked hard and we have a belief.
"We’re group winners and ready for the challenges ahead. We know our qualities and what we are capable of. Not many teams will fancy playing us. We are difficult to break down and have players to score goals.”
Rooney had not scored in an international tournament since the European Championship eight years ago. But after making a goalscoring return from a two-match suspension in Donetsk, the striker was quick to praise his team-mates, in particular skipper Gerrard.
“I haven’t scored in a major tournament in a while and it was nice to do that with the winning goal,” said Rooney. “The whole team was fantastic; we defended really well and stuck in there at times against a difficult crowd. Our fans were brilliant and we deserved the win.
“It was great to get three points and it’s always a great feeling to score. My overall game could have been a bit better but it was my first game for a while.
"The one thing I was delighted with was that I was always putting myself in goalscoring opportunities. I could have done better with a couple more but I got the goal and its three points.
“Steven's delivery has been exceptional in this tournament. He's a world-class player and I thought tonight he was really brilliant. He drove us on at times. We're lucky to have a player like that in the team."
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Gerrard hails England momentum
Skipper says Roy Hodgson's team have found a 'better level of performance'
Steven Gerrard said 'no-one believed in us at the start'© PA Photos
Steven Gerrard says England are gaining momentum all the time as they head into their quarter-final meeting with Italy
Roy Hodgson’s England finished top of Group D thanks to a 1-0 win against Ukraine on Tuesday and Gerrard admitted the performance against the co-hosts in Donetsk “wasn’t fantastic” but said the team had done what they needed to do as Wayne Rooney’s goal secured victory.
It meant England, around whom pre-tournament expectations were low, emerged from the group unbeaten with seven points after drawing their opener against France and then coming back from 2-1 down to defeat Sweden 3-2.
“We came into this group, a difficult group, and the idea was to try and win it,” Gerrard said. “No-one believed in us at the start, but we're gaining momentum as we go along.
“The performance wasn't fantastic, but we worked hard and got the result. Wayne Rooney's goal was a tap-in - but if he keeps scoring tap-ins for us, we'll go a long way. He is important to the team and the nation.”
The Liverpool captain said England had “found a better level of performance” and explained: “We have been criticised in the past - we can take that, but you've seen the reaction.
“It is not nice to be criticised, but you need to respond. We'll take each game as it comes. The Italians are next, and they're very strong defensively.
“You need a bit of luck to do well in these competitions. Let's hope we get a bit more along the way.”
Gerrard's fellow midfielder Scott Parker urged fans to remain realistic despite England’s progress, telling the FA website the team were not “all of a sudden going to turn into Spain".
“The more we progress, we put more pressure on ourselves," he said. "We'll keep taking it step by step - and then who knows?”
Goalkeeper Joe Hart praised both matchwinner Rooney and England’s supporters, in Ukraine and at home. The Manchester City star said: “We've listened to the support of these magnificent people today, the brilliant people at home have wished us well, and we're just really proud.
“Wayne Rooney returned and scored a goal like Wayne Rooney does, because that's the type of player he is.
“We can achieve what we came here to achieve - we came to win games. France was a tough start, yet we felt we could have won it, and now we've won these last two games.”
Midfielder James Milner hailed the togetherness in the England camp and said: “It is pleasing we are improving, and the more time we spend together we will get stronger and stronger,” while Joleon Lescott, who scored England’s opening goal of the tournament against the French, said: “We want to continue to progress and get as far as we can.”
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Wah lau, played like fuck and want to start talking now. Let's see if they can do a Chelsea.
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There u go, the English don't change.
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i dont understand why they think the penalty shoot-out loss is hard to take. they should have lost in full time.
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For a team can keeps playing the same old pumping long balls style to the lone striker for the past few decades, I think reaching the quarterfinals is already an achievement.
I was expecting them to draw all their games in the group stages and get knocked out.
