Terry relishing Euro challenge
Friday, 07 October, 2011
Captain's initial reaction after qualifying for Poland & Ukraine.
John Terry admitted England can finally put the disappointment of last year’s World Cup behind them and look forward to UEFA EURO 2012.
The Three Lions booked their place at Poland and Ukraine after a hard-fought 2-2 draw in Montenegro, and Terry says it will be a dream come true to lead out his country in a major Finals next summer.
“We can look over the course of this campaign and be pleased at how we’ve come back after the World Cup,” said the skipper.
“We’ve seen players come in and refresh the group, playing for places. There have been a lot of young players coming in and with the established players we have as well, we’ve always said it’s a great mix.
“Hopefully I can captain the side in a major tournament, it’s a dream of mine and I’d love to go all the way. Hopefully we’ve learned from where we went wrong. That doesn’t mean it is just going to happen because we’ve learned from our mistakes. We still need to go out there and do it because there will be a lot of tough teams there.”
In the end it was closer than it looked when England raced into a 2-0 lead.
“We are a little disappointed that we ended up drawing the game after being 2-0 up," said Terry. "But it’s a great thing to be where we are; we are top of the group and we’ve worked all the way through.
“In the first half we were very disappointed to concede so late on, because we felt really in control. The Manager said at half-time it was too easy for us and we let them into the game. Unfortunately they got that goal in the end. But we are happy – we’re through.
"Tonight was always going to be tough, as it was in Switzerland, but we went there and got a result, as we did in Bulgaria.
“At times throughout the campaign, like all groups, you go through stages where you are playing really well and get good performances. Other times you don’t play so well and everyone jumps on your back a bit.
“It’s important the players keep believing in themselves, and the Manager keeps believing and playing the way we know we can play. If we do that we’ll be ok.”