Friday, September 11, 2009

Steven Gerrard: Michael Shields Inspired My England Performance

Steven Gerrard today reflected on one of his most satisfying nights in an England shirt – after revealing he took inspiration for his heroics from Michael Shields.

Liverpool skipper Gerrard scored twice last night as England thrashed Croatia 5-1 at Wembley to book their place at next summer’s World Cup finals in style.

Those headers took Gerrard’s international tally to 16 in 76 appearances and he clearly took great contentment from the standing ovation he was given when substituted late on.

But the in-form midfielder admitted he was just as pleased by the news earlier in the day that Shields’ horrific four-year ordeal had been ended with a royal pardon.

“Its fantastic news both for Michael and his family,” said Gerrard, who returned to Melwood today to start preparations for Saturday’s clash with Burnley.

“I’m really pleased for all of them. It was a good day for me, scoring two goals and qualifying for the World Cup having switched on the television earlier in the day and seeing the news about Michael. It gave me a real boost.

“It’s certainly one of the most satisfying nights I’ve had playing for England. We’ve had some good nights under Sven – particularly in Germany – and I’ve scored goals in the European Championships and the World Cup finals but this was very good.”

Victory preserved England’s 100% record in Group Six and, not surprisingly, instantly fired belief that Fabio Capello could end up masterminding a route to victory in South Africa.

Should they carry on playing with the same kind of style and swagger which carried them past a competent Croatia side, they will have nothing to fear in the finals but Gerrard is not allowing himself to get sidetracked by such thoughts.

“We know expectations are going to go through the roof now but it’s just important for us to keep playing the way we are playing,” he said. “We are just trying to improve all the time under this manager. We know we’ve got the players to go there and do well but it’s important we don’t take our foot off the gas.

“If we keep moving forward in the right direction – as we are now – I’m confident that we can achieve something going into the World Cup next year under Capello.”

It is the first time in more than two decades that England have secured a place in a major tournament with time to spare – Group Six will be concluded next month with games against Ukraine and Belarus – and Gerrard believes that is a real sign of progress.

“It’s nice to get the qualification out of the way early,” he agreed. “To qualify so early and win a game so comfortably makes me feel more confident about the way we are going forward as a team.

“But last night the most satisfying aspect for me was how well we played both with and without the ball. People forget how good a team Croatia are and we have beaten them comfortably in the end.”

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