A different challenge
Monday, 08 September, 2008
David Beckham says the Three Lions shouldn't dwell on previous games with Croatia ahead of Wednesday.
Croatia v England
2010 Fifa World Cup Qualifier
Group Six
8pm, Wednesday 10 September 2008
Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb
David Beckham is warning England not to dwell on past performances against Croatia when they play Slaven Bilic's side on Wednesday in the second World Cup qualifier of the new season.
The Three Lions, who beat Andorra 2-0 in their opening game in Group 6 on Saturday, now head to Zagreb where they lost 2-0 two years ago in an ultimately unsuccessful Euro 2008 campaign that also ended with defeat against Croatia at Wembley.
But Beckham wants England's players to think only of the here and now as Fabio Capello's squad continue their quest to qualify for the World Cup Finals in South Africa in 2010.
"We have to forget about what has gone on in the past," he said.
"This is the present and we have to work towards what we want to achieve in this group and it is about getting a good performance and a good result. We know it is going to be a very tough game and a different challenge from playing Andorra."
England begun the campaign with a 2-0 victory over Andorra in Barcelona and that leaves them in a healthy position with three points already in the bag.
"It is always good to get off to a good start in a group and we did that," added Beckham.
"That was the good thing. It was always going to be a frustrating game against Andorra because they got every man behind the ball and that was going to make it hard for us.
"But we knew in the second half, if we kept on playing the football we can play, we were going to break them down, and we did.
"We needed this before the Croatia game. Our minds have been focused on this game and now it switches to Croatia which is another different challenge."
