Phil Jagielka believes that if England show the same attacking intent they did against Italy in their next two group games they will progress to the knock-out stages of the World Cup.
Despite suffering an unfortunate 2-1 defeat against Italy in their opening Group D game, Jagielka said England will bounce back quickly against Uruguay on Thursday.
“Obviously we’re frustrated,” said Jagielka. “There were a number of missed opportunities but it’s up to us now to take this in to the Uruguay game and hopefully put in a similar performance but come away with a few more points.”
England 1-2 Italy
2014 FIFA World Cup
Group D
Arena Amazonia
Saturday 14 June 2014
The Three Lions narrowly lost out to the Azzurri after Mario Balotelli’s second-half strike proved decisive.
But according to the Everton defender there were plenty of positives to take into the game against Uruguay – with attention turning to Thursday’s clash.
“The feeling in the dressing room is one of disappointment right now,” he added.
“We’ll fly back to Rio – have a cool down day tomorrow. We’ll look at some video footage of the game and try and take some of the positives out of it.
“I’m sure there’s a lot to take out of it, quite a few good performances but at the end of the day we’ve come away with no points.”
Former Premier League star Balotelli headed home the winning goal on 50 minutes after Antonio Candreva whipped in a dangerous cross and the AC Milan striker headed home past former Manchester City team-mate Joe Hart.
England continued to rally, however, and a string of missed opportunities and a series of good saves from Salvatore Sirigu has Jagielka ruing what might have been.
“We thought we would have had long enough to get back into the game,” he added.
“But their keeper has pulled off some really good saves and on another night possibly we get a draw, if not something more.”
Next up for England are Uruguay, who they face at the Arena de Sao Paulo on Thursday 19 June. The game kicks off at 8pm BST.
