Captain Steven Gerrard believes England should take advantage of their draw against France in their opening Euro 2012 clash by beating Sweden in Kiev on Friday evening
Gerrard is confident in England’s ability to topple the Swedes despite having failed to beat them in a competitive fixture for more than 40 years. The midfielder insists the belief and confidence in the squad is in sharp contrast to the mood after being held 1-1 by USA in the opening World Cup encounter in South Africa two years ago. Gerrard said: “We are not getting carried away and we just need to build on each game and the France game has gone now.
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“We’ve got out of it partly what we wanted. We will analyse the game and what we did wrong and right and we go for the Swedes now.
“We need to get three points against them and then the point against France becomes very important. I think after getting a point against France, in the dressing room there was a lot of belief and confidence and a lot of togetherness and that is what you need.
“I don’t want to disrespect the other two teams. Of course, on paper France are favourites in the group.
“The Swedes are difficult and I don’t think we’ve beaten them for a long time in a competitive game. We will respect them but, with all respect, it’s a game we should win.”