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Wayne Rooney: We'll do Italian job
WAYNE ROONEY has hailed England’s new-found unity and insisted Roy Hodgson’s side boast the quality and conviction to inflict their own Italian job.
The striker underlined the bubbling optimism within Hodgson’s squad with a defiant and upbeat assessment of the nation’s prospects ahead of Sunday’s Euro 2012 quarter- final showdown in Kiev.
“Italy is not going to be an easy game but we have the players, the belief and the togetherness to do a job on them,” said Rooney.
“Once you get to this stage of the competition, anything can happen.”
England’s preparations for their biggest game in six years will intensify today, with Rooney increasingly confident his team-mates can prolong their stay in the tournament.
Rooney returned from suspension to score the winning goal against Ukraine that enabled England to top Group D and claimed the camaraderie in Hodgson’s squad has transformed them into genuine contenders.
We are more organised than ever and we are all fighting for each other
“We are more organised than ever and we are all fighting for each other,” said Rooney. “We all want to do this together, so we have a great chance.
“In the quarter-finals anything can happen but we feel good, we’ve prepared well and we’re looking forward to it.
“It was a difficult group. France are a great side and to play Ukraine out here was always going to be a difficult game. And Sweden we hadn’t beaten for a long time [in a competitive game] so it was going to be a difficult group to get through.
“To finish top gives us a lot of confidence.
“It’s important that we believe in ourselves. We have a great group of players here.”
England are likely to practise penalties again today after training at the Hutnik Stadium as Hodgson looks to form a shortlist in his head should Sunday’s tie go to a shoot-out.
Skipper Steven Gerrard, Rooney, Ashley Cole, Ashley Young and Glen Johnson are in line to be in the first five, with Hodgson likely to resist goalkeeper Joe Hart’s offer to step up.