Sunday, 8th June, 2014
England skipper Steven Gerrard insists the Three Lions will be heading into their World Cup opener against Italy looking to clinch victory.
England lock horns with Italy on 14th June and, with Costa Rica and Uruguay the other two teams in their group, may well be starting life with the most difficult challenge.
It has been suggested that England might be happy to take a draw against the Azzurri. But not so says Gerrard.
"A win is better. You are never going to go into the game trying to get a draw. You always reach for the stars, we go in there trying to get the three points", Gerrard was quoted as saying by FIFA.
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"We have our game plan and if we perform to the best of our ability, there is no doubt about it, we can beat this team, although we certainly won’t under-estimate them.
"If we fall short and end up with a 0-0 draw it’s not the end of the world. It’s an OK result but it’s not the result we want because if we get three points in that first game we are in the driving seat in the group."
The last time England met Italy was at Euro 2012, when the two sides played out a 0-0 draw, the Italians ultimately clinching victory through a penalty shootout win.
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