Gerrard: England will learn from tournament heartache for Euro 2012
The midfielder insists that the Three Lions are remaining realistic
about their chances and expressed his delight at fulfilling his boyhood
dream of becoming captain
England captain Steven Gerrard insists that the Three Lions squad will leave their egos behind for this summer's Euro 2012.
The 31-year-old blamed unrealistic
pre-tournament expectations for past failures, but believes that this
year the pressure has been lifted somewhat.
And Gerrard, who has been capped 90 times
by his country, insists previous heartbreaks will stand the country in
good stead for the summer.
“Usually the experience I’ve had going into tournaments is always the
golden generation are going to win it, we’re going to do this,” he told
The Mirror.
“We put two or three results together and the nation gets carried
away and also the players start believing that we’re great. Maybe we go
into tournaments believing we’re better than we are.
“I don’t want to be too hard and we have been close, but I feel for
the tools that we have got and the players we have had, I do feel we
should have done better.
“I think this time there’s a lot of realism about. Expectations are
maybe down because we’ve not performed and we haven’t delivered in the
previous tournaments.
“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to go into this tournament with belief and confidence that we can cause an upset.
“The pressure and the expectation seems to
be slightly in our favour this time rather than a hindrance and weight
on our shoulders so we’re hoping we can use that to our advantage.”
The Huyton-born midfielder also reflected on his appointment as skipper
under new boss Roy Hodgson, admitting it has been a dream for a long
time.
He added: “Throughout my career, since I was a young boy, a lot of people have said that maybe one day I would captain England.
“Me dad has been saying for a long time that he would love me to
captain England so it’s just nice to make my family feel proud and
they’re chuffed to bits.
“I’ve never been totally confident I would get it because under Steve
McClaren and Capello, I’ve missed out on it to other people.
“So it feels as if it has been a long time coming and now I’m going to give it my best shot.”
Source : Goal.com
