Daily Mirror
If Anyone doubts how much the England players care about their country, they only had to see the anguish written across every part of Steven Gerrard's face last night.
Gerrard may have experienced the greatest of highs in his career but nobody felt the pain of last month's defeat in Moscow more than the stand-in skipper.
As captain, Gerrard believed he was leading England to Euro 2008 in a game that seemed to be heading in only one direction. The whole country knows what followed.
"We were in control and they were running out of patience," said Gerrard. "Then we had a mad six minutes where we lost concentration and focus, where a couple of mistakes happened and we certainly paid for them.
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"It was a shock as for the first hour it felt as if they could have the ball as much as they wanted, because they weren't going to hurt us at all.
"But you get judged on results. We were expected to go and get a result in Russia and we didn't deliver."
Gerrard, who joined up with the rest of Steve McClaren's squad at their Hertfordshire base last night, added: "You go through things and of course you look back to incidents and think 'what if?' But that is what football is about. It's about scoring goals and missing chances. Mistakes happen in football."
Gerrard, like every other member of the squad, is aware of what they could face at Wembley next week if Israel cannot do them a huge favour against Russia in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.
It makes the build-up to Friday's friendly in Austria one of the most bizarre and unusual any England squad has experienced in recent memory.
Gerrard agreed: "It's going to be a difficult week, because we're all waiting for the Israel game. It's been difficult being an England player since the Russia result.
"We could all be going into one of the most meaningless internationals of our career, or one of the most important.
"But if we join up this week thinking it's all over and we've got no chance, it will make it impossible to prepare right for Wednesday if it suddenly becomes a massive game for us." Gerrard is dreading the agonies he will go through on Saturday, watching events in Tel Aviv with fingers crossed. Yet the Liverpool skipper insists that England, collectively, must take responsibility for the position they are in.
"As a player you don't look at it as a question of whether the criticism is fair or not," said Gerrard. "You're playing for England, there's a lot of expectation, a big following and fantastic support. In football, excuses are the easiest thing in the world to find. What sometimes is the most difficult is to look at what you did and work out why it happened.
"We're expected to get results and as a player you've got to take that on the chin.
"What's difficult is when all the criticism falls on the manager or certain individuals. We're in it together. There's only a certain amount the coaching staff and the manager can do. Then it's down to the players.
"When you win together, everyone takes the credit. You see us playing in cup finals and on top of buses on parades with trophies, all the pats on the back, and getting all the credit.
"So it's important that when things don't go well you stand up and be counted and accept the blame.
"People will look at the Russia game. But look at the result against Macedonia at Old Trafford, look at the draw we got in Israel, where we were nowhere near our level."
That Israel display fuelled the ugly scenes against Andorra in Barcelona four days later, when Gerrard inspired his shell-shocked team to avoid potential humiliation, after the non-playing substitutes fled to the dressing room for safety. They were the sort of scenes to make anybody question whether they needed the aggravation of playing under that pressure, yet Gerrard said: "I don't believe that at all.
"It's not aggravation to go out and play for your country. I still believe and have a dream of winning something with England - and that's worth any aggravation.
"If you look around the squad and see the players we've got, they should be capable of winning something. If we have to suffer this summer to have a successful World Cup in 2010, then that really would be worth the aggravation, if you want to call it that.
"Can you imagine this country if we have a successful tournament? And that's what I want to be part of.
"I have the same dream I had when I was a kid. Any young English player who doesn't have that dream shouldn't be playing for England.
"I can assure everyone on the outside that the players are frustrated and disappointed at the position we're in and are desperate to put it right."
That desperation shone through every word that Gerrard said.
Do not doubt him. Do not doubt any of them.
It hurts them too.
..AND GAMES TO PL AY
Saturday (NOV 17): Macedonia v Croatia, Israel v Russia, Andorra v Estonia.
Next Wednesday (NOV 21): England v Croatia, Israel v Macedonia, Andorra v Russia.
If Russia win their remaining two games then they will qualify. Croatia will only need a point in Macedonia and England will be on the beach next summer.
If Anyone doubts how much the England players care about their country, they only had to see the anguish written across every part of Steven Gerrard's face last night.
Gerrard may have experienced the greatest of highs in his career but nobody felt the pain of last month's defeat in Moscow more than the stand-in skipper.
As captain, Gerrard believed he was leading England to Euro 2008 in a game that seemed to be heading in only one direction. The whole country knows what followed.
"We were in control and they were running out of patience," said Gerrard. "Then we had a mad six minutes where we lost concentration and focus, where a couple of mistakes happened and we certainly paid for them.
Advertisement
Click here to find out more!
"It was a shock as for the first hour it felt as if they could have the ball as much as they wanted, because they weren't going to hurt us at all.
"But you get judged on results. We were expected to go and get a result in Russia and we didn't deliver."
Gerrard, who joined up with the rest of Steve McClaren's squad at their Hertfordshire base last night, added: "You go through things and of course you look back to incidents and think 'what if?' But that is what football is about. It's about scoring goals and missing chances. Mistakes happen in football."
Gerrard, like every other member of the squad, is aware of what they could face at Wembley next week if Israel cannot do them a huge favour against Russia in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.
It makes the build-up to Friday's friendly in Austria one of the most bizarre and unusual any England squad has experienced in recent memory.
Gerrard agreed: "It's going to be a difficult week, because we're all waiting for the Israel game. It's been difficult being an England player since the Russia result.
"We could all be going into one of the most meaningless internationals of our career, or one of the most important.
"But if we join up this week thinking it's all over and we've got no chance, it will make it impossible to prepare right for Wednesday if it suddenly becomes a massive game for us." Gerrard is dreading the agonies he will go through on Saturday, watching events in Tel Aviv with fingers crossed. Yet the Liverpool skipper insists that England, collectively, must take responsibility for the position they are in.
"As a player you don't look at it as a question of whether the criticism is fair or not," said Gerrard. "You're playing for England, there's a lot of expectation, a big following and fantastic support. In football, excuses are the easiest thing in the world to find. What sometimes is the most difficult is to look at what you did and work out why it happened.
"We're expected to get results and as a player you've got to take that on the chin.
"What's difficult is when all the criticism falls on the manager or certain individuals. We're in it together. There's only a certain amount the coaching staff and the manager can do. Then it's down to the players.
"When you win together, everyone takes the credit. You see us playing in cup finals and on top of buses on parades with trophies, all the pats on the back, and getting all the credit.
"So it's important that when things don't go well you stand up and be counted and accept the blame.
"People will look at the Russia game. But look at the result against Macedonia at Old Trafford, look at the draw we got in Israel, where we were nowhere near our level."
That Israel display fuelled the ugly scenes against Andorra in Barcelona four days later, when Gerrard inspired his shell-shocked team to avoid potential humiliation, after the non-playing substitutes fled to the dressing room for safety. They were the sort of scenes to make anybody question whether they needed the aggravation of playing under that pressure, yet Gerrard said: "I don't believe that at all.
"It's not aggravation to go out and play for your country. I still believe and have a dream of winning something with England - and that's worth any aggravation.
"If you look around the squad and see the players we've got, they should be capable of winning something. If we have to suffer this summer to have a successful World Cup in 2010, then that really would be worth the aggravation, if you want to call it that.
"Can you imagine this country if we have a successful tournament? And that's what I want to be part of.
"I have the same dream I had when I was a kid. Any young English player who doesn't have that dream shouldn't be playing for England.
"I can assure everyone on the outside that the players are frustrated and disappointed at the position we're in and are desperate to put it right."
That desperation shone through every word that Gerrard said.
Do not doubt him. Do not doubt any of them.
It hurts them too.
..AND GAMES TO PL AY
Saturday (NOV 17): Macedonia v Croatia, Israel v Russia, Andorra v Estonia.
Next Wednesday (NOV 21): England v Croatia, Israel v Macedonia, Andorra v Russia.
If Russia win their remaining two games then they will qualify. Croatia will only need a point in Macedonia and England will be on the beach next summer.
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