Proud Peacock

John Peacock was full of praise for his young Lions after they overcame Syria to reach the Quarter-Finals of the World Cup.

England were given a stern test by their opponents from the Middle East, eventually emerging victorious thanks to goals from Henri Lansbury, Krystian Pearce and Rhys Murphy.

Peacock says England have been at their best when they have been up against it and Thursday evening was another example of their never-say-die attitude.

"It was a bit of a test of character and I thought we came through it quite well," said the Head Coach.

"I thought it was always going to be a close run thing. Syria were going to fight as hard as us. We were both trying to get to the Quarter-Finals of a World Cup."

After the euphoria of beating Brazil, Peacock was always concerned that the match with Syria might be a case of after the Lord Mayor's Show.

"The Brazil game did take something out of us both physically and mentally," said Peacock. "Syria were always going to be a tough nut to crack. They were an unknown quantity. You are into cup football, the slightest mistake or an off day can cost you."

England failed to match the dizzy heights of last Friday when they beat the Samba Boys 2-1. But winning when you have not played to your potential is always a good sign.

"At half-time I said we needed to be better and were fortunate to be 2-0 up," added Peacock.

"If we didn't pick up on our defending, stop giving the ball away easily and get tighter as a group when defending then we would find it difficult to stop them. I said the next goal would be crucial.

"Unfortunately they went and scored six minutes into the second half. Once we made a change and made it more solid, we took the game to them and deserved our 3-1 lead. We then finished strongly. That's a testament to this group of players. They have great character and never give up."

England's reward is a meeting with arch rivals Germany on Sunday in Goyang City.

"It's great we are into the Quarter-Final," said Peacock. "England-Germany are always interesting encounters. It will be special with it being a Quarter-Final. We will start to look forward to that tomorrow and will refocus. We will be ready for it."