Steven Gerrard: England must keep believing

Oct 18 2007

STEVEN GERRARD claims it would be "unthinkable" for England not to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals after they were beaten 2-1 by Russia in Moscow.

The stand-in skipper said: "We were in control of the game, the game-plan was working perfectly, we’ve gone 1-0 up and I’ve had a fantastic chance to make it 2-0 myself.

"Then we had a mad five to 10 minutes when the game has changed. The penalty for their first goal looked outside the box and has turned the whole game."

"It gave them a lot of confidence, put them on the front foot and they put us under a lot of pressure and managed to get a second.

"Even when they got the penalty, we should still have been strong and more together to see the game out."

England play group leaders Croatia in their final match and Gerrard insisted: "It is important that we don’t give up. We are waiting on other people to do us favours.

"But as players we’ve got to stick together, focus and believe to the end.

"I can’t believe it is out of our hands because we have worked so hard over the last five or six games to put ourselves in the driving seat and make ourselves favourites to go through, especially after going 1-0 up tonight.

"You start believing you are nearly there, that you have got one foot there but football is a cruel game and chances and decisions and mistakes turn football matches and that is what has happened tonight.

"For England not to make the finals will be unthinkable. But as players and staff we’ve got to take responsibility for that."

Gerrard admitted he should have done better with his gilt- edged chance from a Gareth Barry free-kick, which could have killed off the game.

He said: "It was one of those when I didn’t expect to have so much time and I’m waiting for an eternity for the ball to come down.

"I tried to get the best contact on it possible but it wasn’t to be and I’m disappointed with the chance."