England v Portugal
Saturday 01 July 2006
World Cup, Quarter-Final
Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen
4pm kick off (London Time)

Paul Robinson believes England's defence is back on track and ready to face Portugal after working hard to cut out errors from set-pieces.

Three Lions keeper Robinson admits he was disappointed to concede two goals from set-pieces against Sweden in England's final group game, which was drawn 2-2.

But he kept his third clean sheet of the tournament against Ecuador in the last 16 and wants another against Portugal on Saturday.

He said: "We've been working on the communication and we were pleased with how we worked on set-pieces against Ecuador. We put that right in Stuttgart.

"Things are gradually getting better. There are more things coming into our game that we are pleased with. I think we are heading the right way."

England changed their formation for the Ecuador match, bringing in Michael Carrick in a midfield holding role, and Robinson felt it went well.

He said: "We've worked a lot in training on the formation. The players feel we can adapt to any system we play."

Now he is ready for the biggest test of the tournament so far - a quarter-final against old rivals Portugal who beat England at the same stage of Euro 2004.

Robinson said: "I think the players we have got will rise to the occasion. We've not lost a game yet, we're through to the last eight. As long as we keep winning that's the important thing.

"We got to the last 16 without producing what we know is our best. I think the Ecuador match, along with the Sweden game, was probably one of the better performances we have had, but we still feel there is more to come from the team.

"I think we are finding the pitches particularly difficult because they are not putting water on the pitches. It's slowing our passing game down. We are finding it hard to get a rhythm. But we are getting better all the time."

TheFA.com - the home of the England team.