'It is now or never' for England captain Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard says with the World Cup in Brazil certain to be his last, he is more determined than ever to succeed.

The Three Lions face Uruguay in Sao Paulo on Thursday – and following the pair’s opening-game defeats against Italy and Costa Rica respectively, the fixture has become a “do-or-die” affair for both sides. 

And the England captain is determined to ensure his World Cup career does not effectively end in the Arena de Sao Paulo.

He said: “When you get to this age you want to try and appreciate and savour every moment and try and achieve everything you can in your grasp. 

“It is my last World Cup for sure, 100 per cent. My time is running out as an England player so I want to try and get as many memories out of it as I can which makes the game, from a selfish point of view, even more important because I want to play for England many more times.”

England know that should they lose to Uruguay on Thursday, barring a unlikely sequence of results in the group’s other games, they will fail to be among the last 16 at a World Cup for the first time since 1994 – when they did not qualify for the tournament in America.

But Gerrard remains comfortable with the situation in Group D. Reassured that despite suffering defeat against Italy in Manaus, the squad has the quality to cope with the pressure-cooker they will encounter over the next two games – and added that recent history shows this environment could well bring out the best in them.

“In the qualification we probably put our two best performances together when the pressure was really on,” he continued. “That is maybe because you realise what is at stake and you don’t really get a second chance. 

Gerrard leads his country out against Italy

“I suppose this is even more difficult than the two pressure games in qualification but the lads have still got that confidence and belief but I haven’t seen any negativity or anyone lacking any belief since the Italy game.

“I have just sensed a bit of frustration the day after but we put it to bed reasonably quickly and the mood is back to how it was before the Italy game which his important. We have got a must win scenario coming up.”

And of his Liverpool teammate and close friend Luis Suarez - Gerrard said there may be time for brief pleasantries as the teams walk out, but nothing more.

“There certainly won’t be any contact the day before the game or the day of the game because we are both focusing on the jobs we have got to do for our teams. Of course we have had banter leading up to this point,” he said.

“If I walk past him I will say hello and shake his hand but in that moment I am not really looking for friends or team-mates. 

"He knows that once the whistle goes there is no friendship between me and Luis Suarez for 90 whatever minutes we play. But before and after the game he is a friend and a teammate and we can switch back into that mode. 

"But while the game is going on, there will be nothing.”