Liam Moore spoke of his enjoyment at playing in this England Under-21s team, as the Three Lions reached next summer’s Euro Finals.
The Leicester City defender opened the scoring against Croatia in Tuesday’s play-off second leg in Vinkovci as England emerged as 2-1 winners on the night.
Croatia 1-2 England
(England win 4-2 on aggregate)
European U21s Championship
Qualification play-off
Stadion HNK Cibalia, Vinkovci
Tuesday 14 October 2014
And Moore reckons that while Gareth Southgate’s team have shown their quality after a convincing qualifying campaign, they aren’t happy to settle where they are
“In the dressing room, everyone’s happy but we’re not too over the top,” he revealed.
“This is the start of an achievement that we want to get to.
Liam Moore speaks to FATV after the match
“Qualifying is great, but we want to do much better than that, we want to go far in the tournament and show what we’re all about.
“We’ve set out what we aimed to do, which was obviously to get to the Euros so that was job done and we put in a good performance as well.”
It is the style of play which has been cultivated by Southgate which impresses Moore the most though.
Moore has become a regular choice in the centre of defence in the second half of the campaign and got his name on the scoresheet for the first time in an England shirt in Vinkovci.
“In the past we might have been guilty of not playing properly or creating chances but this England team is the complete opposite to that”
Liam Moore
England U21s and Leicester City defender
And he says playing in this side is proving to be a real pleasure for him.
“A few people might have crumbled under pressure but as the England team we are, we continued to be strong as we have done the whole way through this campaign and kept playing the ball about and we’ve qualified,” he added.
Marko Livaja battles with Liam Moore
“There’s real quality in this team as well. In the past, we might have been guilty of not playing football properly or creating chances but this England team are the complete opposite to that.
“We play out from the back, keep the ball and there’s goals to be had in this team.
“The three today that started tonight really did move the ball all over the pitch. It was great to watch and not only are they a force going forward, they dug in deep too and made some crucial tackles in the middle of the park.”
