Turgott targets win
By James Marshall in Torreon
Friday, 24 June, 2011
West Ham man says squad are confident ahead of Saturday's game with Uruguay.
England ace Blair Turgott says the squad have put the disappointment of Wednesday night behind them, as they prepare to take on Uruguay in their final World Cup group game.
The Young Lions were hit by a freakish late equaliser against Canada in Pachuca, which means that a point on Saturday will be enough to secure progress to the Second Round but West Ham starlet Turgott believes England can get a win against the South Americans to clinch top spot.
“It would have been nice to get the three points against Canada on Wednesday,” he told TheFA.com.
“We were disappointed but we need to keep our heads up and we will bounce back against Uruguay.
“It isn’t the end of the world, we’ve been pleased with the way we’ve played generally and we have four points from two games. Before the tournament started, we would’ve been happy with that.”
The squad have now moved on from Pachuca to the northern city of Torreon where they will face the Uruguayans, who confirmed their place in the next round courtesy of a late winner against Rwanda in their second match.
England know that their destiny is still in their own hands and even if John Peacock’s team were to suffer defeat against Uruguay, it would still require Canada to beat Rwanda in their final match so Turgott is just looking forward to getting back into action.
“It’s a big game, but they all are in a World Cup,” he added.
“I think we should play our normal game, be patient and don’t over complicate our play.
“The boys are still confident that we can top the group and beat Uruguay on Saturday.”
After starting in the opening game victory over Rwanda, Turgott had to settle for a place on the bench against Canada as Peacock rotated his squad around.
But after coming on in the second half and scoring a fine goal to put England 2-1 up, the Londoner is hoping to be back in the team and understands the mechanics of team selection in a tournament like this.
“We have a healthy competition in the squad and I understand that the manager has to rotate things with the number of games we have in a short space of time,” he admitted.
“We have some fantastic players and I was just happy to come on and have an impact in the game by scoring a goal.”
The game is scheduled to be shown live on Eurosport on Saturday evening at 9pm BST.