Onto the next one
Sunday, 27 September, 2009
U20s captain Josh Walker wants to take the positives into Tuesday’s game.
Nicholas Veevers in Ismailia
England U20s captain Josh Walker believes if the Young Lions can replicate their performance against Uruguay in their final two games of Group D, they stand a good chance of progressing to the next stage.
It took a stunning late goal from Uruguayan substitute Tabare Viudez to settle the game, but England were certainly unfortunate not to come out of the encounter with anything.
“I think Uruguay are a very good side and I thought we more than matched them,” said Walker.
“It was just unfortunate with the way the game ended, but the good thing about football is that there is always another game coming up and we have one against Ghana in a couple of days time.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to win that game and then take it into the final match with Uzbekistan.”
Uruguay have been tipped as one of the teams to watch in this World Cup and England knew all along what to expect from Diego Aguirre’s outfit, but the Middlesbrough ace believes there are plenty of positives to take out of the game and into Tuesday’s clash with Ghana.
“It was a hard game, right from the first whistle and we did very well but Uruguay showed what a good side they were and kept going right until the end,” he added.
“Maybe we just ran out of legs towards the end, but it was a great finish by the lad.
“We can’t let our heads stay down for too long though and we have to focus on our next game now.”
With the Ghana game coming around on Tuesday night, it is a short turnaround for the players but Walker feels once the fixtures get going, it’s easier to focus on the next one.
“We’ll have a debrief about this game on Sunday and then we’ll start to look at Ghana,” explained the midfielder.
“We saw a bit of them tonight before our game and they look fit and strong, so it will be another tough test.
“But if we can perform like we did tonight against Ghana, we should take them all the way.
“If we win the next game, it will give us a great chance to progress but we’ll take it one game at a time because you never know what might happen in the group.”
Ghana beat Uzbekistan by 2-1 in the other Group D game on Saturday evening.