ENGLAND-TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Players' Quotes

ENGLAND-TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Players' Quotes

David BECKHAM (ENG), Budweiser Man of the Match
I think you can safely say that you haven’t seen the best of us yet, but we are almost through to the next round. You cannot argue with the fact that we have won both of our games so far. I have to pay a special tribute to the fans who were magnificent for us throughout the game. They believe and we believe to. I know we left it late, but we did it. I was also pleased to see Wayne Rooney in the team. The world deserves to see a player like him…

Peter CROUCH (ENG)
Thankfully the goal did come in the end. It’s a pleasure to play with someone like David Beckham, who supplied a great ball for me. It was disappointing in the first half, but we never gave up. I know that we can play better and we will. We had a lot of chances, but Trinidad did well to stop us. I’m enjoying every minute of being with the squad. It’s great to be at the World Cup.

Steven GERRARD (ENG)
I was delighted to score my first World Cup goal, but I was more pleased for the team. The result may have been a good one, but we need to play more as a team. At some points, we did not move the ball around as well as we should have. Although we can improve, it’s important to remember that we have kept two clean sheets and we have six points on the board.

Frank LAMPARD (ENG)
It was great to see Wayne Rooney make a return, but I think Aaron Lennon deserves a special mention too. He played extremely well on the right hand side and made sure that the pace of the game increased. It was very difficult to break down Trinidad and Tobago, who were very organised. But we didn’t stop believing.

Michael OWEN (ENG)
I wasn’t disappointed to be substituted. It’s a team game and the substitutions proved to be the right ones for the team. I know I haven’t scored, but Peter and Steven did, so it worked out well. My confidence is high. I know that if I get a good chance, I will take it. I feel sharp. I am taking part in all the training sessions and enjoying them.

Dwight YORKE (TRI)
The crowd knew that it was a fantastic effort and we were more than happy to play our part in history. We are a small country, but we did a good job. A surprise just wasn't meant to be. We frustrated England in the first half and I think we did enough to get a draw. It's just a shame that we couldn't hold on for 90 minutes.

Chris BIRCHALL (TRI)
We are proud of our performance today. England are such a good team that they could score in every minute, so we did well to hold them for 83 minutes. The crowd was amazing, it was great to see so many people supporting T&T. It was always going to be difficult to stop Peter Crouch for 90 minutes. He is a great player who does well for Liverpool and he proved to be our undoing.

Shaka HISLOP (TRI)
We were written off before the tournament began, but we have shown once again that we deserve to be taken seriously. But now we are disappointed. There was a huge hype about this match in the English media, people thought that we would get beaten heavily, but we didn't. We were well prepared for this match.

Stern JOHN (TRI)
We worked really hard. We needed a bit of luck, which we didn’t get at the end. But we’ve shown that we deserve to be here and I hope we’ve surprised a few people. It was a massive compliment to us when Wayne Rooney came on, as it showed that things weren’t going England’s way. We kept them at bay for 83 minutes and we are proud of that. It’s a historical match for T&T and it was a great day for us.