Iceland marked their maiden European Championship appearance by finishing second in Group F with four points, and coach Hodgson believes he knows exactly what to expect from the tiny island nation in the last 16.
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For that reason, the Manchester United forward is not concerned that England’s side of the draw features most of the tournament favorites – host France, two-time defending champion Spain, world champion Germany and traditional heavyweight Italy.
“I always know which way I’m going and Buffon was actually pointing and telling me he knows I’m going that way”, Rooney recalled.
“We are here and we want to win it”. Until we get some confirmation from the player or the manager though we’re likely to assume the worst.
“I am prepared to carry on”, he said.
As England embark upon the knockout rounds in France, the spectre of penalties now looms and Rooney revealed that he is going to great lengths in training to ensure that he is ready in the event of a shootout.
But I ended up the going the same way but he dived the other way. We saw that time and again with Leicester in the Premier League last season, but that is not the kind of game England will be involved in against Iceland. “I haven’t contemplated losing a game yet”.
Kane, last season’s 25-goal Premier League top scorer, was relegated to the substitutes’ bench by Hodgson for the Group B encounter with Slovakia last Monday after failing to score against Russian Federation and Wales in England’s previous two group games.
With Rooney playing in midfield, the onus is now on strikers like Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge to score and, while England have struggled in front of goal, their captain believes that they have more players capable of deciding games than at any time in his 13-year global career.
“Everyone in Reykjavik was partying all through the night when Iceland qualified for the last 16”.
“Then you have Croatia or Spain”. “I think the gap has changed not just for ourselves, but for Wales, Belgium, Italy”.
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Jamie Vardy is most effective when he is running at defences that are playing a high line, with his place and drive a real handful for any team on the front foot. “We’ve been practising them every day anyway but now we will start doing it as a group, like a match situation”.
