Hargreaves - England expects

Midfielder dismisses accusations of underachievement

By Peter Fraser   Last updated: 24th April 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hargreaves - England expects

Hargreaves: Expectations are often too high

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Owen Hargreaves insists England have not underachieved over recent years and believes expectation levels of the national team may be too high.

England infamously failed to progress to this summer's finals of Euro 2008 following a dismal qualifying campaign, which cost former boss Steve McClaren his job.

And while Hargreaves, who has made 41 international appearances, admits he and his team-mates did not reach the standards required to be travelling to Austria and Switzerland, the Manchester United star is adamant England have performed well over recent years.

Hargreaves feels sights may be set too high after England's elimination at the quarter-final stages of the last three international tournaments - courtesy of Brazil and Portugal in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, respectively, while the latter also dealt a knock-out blow in the 2004 European Championships - have been viewed as failures.

"We have underachieved this qualifying campaign, you can definitely say that," Hargreaves told Skysports.com.

"But when you go back to the World Cup in Japan when we lost to Brazil, who is to say we are better than Brazil.

"Everyone has this expectation that we should beat everyone we come up against, but people don't understand that these teams are very good sides as well.

"There is only one side who can win a World Cup or a European Championship.

Negative

"We were only a small step away from achieving great things and people tend to just label things as negative and underachieved, but it wasn't all as bad as everyone makes out."

Hargreaves, though, is confident England have the capability to sample success in the future and is positive manager Fabio Capello, who replaced McClaren in December, will prove an excellent appointment when the 2010 World Cup qualifiers get under way in the autumn.

"We will always have a great team and there are great options all across the pitch so the expectation is to be one of the best teams in the world," Hargreaves added.

"That potential is there and if we can play well together then we could be a very exciting team.

"If he (Capello) can change a few things that we have done wrong, or not well, in the past and can fix them, then we can be a very good team. That is obviously why he took over the job."

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Comments (7)

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Darren Mark says...

So happy that Owen has come out and said this. He is a realist which some of the England players over recent years have not been, or that's what their PR gurus have told them to say anyway. Hargreaves could be captain one day. Look at the way he broke into the team after boos from some fans and became easily our best player in the World Cup. I for one am so glad he came to Utd. His experience in Germany has probably helped him and he will be a great if he can get over the knee problem. We can only hope Capello can bring the primadonnas on English football together and play as a team.

Posted 01:25 25th April 2008

Michael Durkan (Sheffield United fan) says...

I've never heard as much sense come out of a footballer's mouth as this. Clearery an intelligent player and would certainly get my vote to be captain. Endless energy, fully committed and clever enough to relay instructions to his team mates. Nice one Owen!

Posted 17:26 24th April 2008

Paul Dawkins (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

Owen is right, Englands national team expectations are high and rightly so, but the team , or any team can't be expected to win all the time. The world has caught up and passed the talent level of English football, Owen as a Canadian playing for England is bang on.

Posted 15:51 24th April 2008

Daniel Ajafunfun (Manchester United fan) says...

Finally some realistic comments and people on England!!

Posted 13:30 24th April 2008

Jimmy Singh (Manchester United fan) says...

I dont understand how Hargreaves can say England have not underachieved; YES you have underachieved. the amount of talent in the England squad, all of you are supposed to be world class players playing for some of the best teams in the world earning ¿60K or more (which is the case for most of you) a week. You dont play for the love of the england shirt and country anymore and to be honest i dont think most of you care as you are all already millionaires!

Posted 12:50 24th April 2008

Michael Elstob (Newcastle United fan) says...

England have a team that has a player rated as one the best in the world in ALMOST every position in its starting eleven. granted there were injuries during the qualifiers but that should be leveled out by the fact we were playing the likes of Andorra(no disrespect andorra) still at least our superstar footballers will have plenty of time to spend there money. p.s this is not a knock on Owen Hargreaves he appears to be one of the few England players who show the commitment and passion to care about the match rather than the afterparty.

Posted 12:45 24th April 2008

James Hassell (Manchester City fan) says...

The players that England boast should on paper, be around 3rd in the world rankings however,as we all know, matches arent won on paper. Look at the Spanish National team, Torres,Raul,Iniesta,Xavi,Puyol, yet again immense on paper , higher than us in world rankings ,yet never reach the stages that england reach in major tournaments now surely great teams arent going to qualify for every tournament, look at czech republic a couple of years ago and also holland, the last time i thought england were a real world force was back in 1996,european championships, phsyco,gazza,shearer and sheringham. We need to play down expectation of the national team and realise that the matches are won on the pitch. Lets hope Capello can get this team going and form a team that can really challenge for european and world glory in the years to come.

Posted 10:16 24th April 2008
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