Eriksson Confident Of England Progress

Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said on Friday he will not be making any Churchillian speeches but he is convinced England will lift their game in their World Cup quarter-final with Portugal.

The management style of the understated Swede, who is leaving the job after the finals, was firmly in the spotlight as England prepare for Saturday’s game after an uninspiring run.

Asked whether England could reach their first World Cup semi-final since 1990, Eriksson told a news conference: "The point is to do everything to beat Portugal and go to the semi-final and then hopefully go even further. That’s been our target for a long time now and I will tell you I think we have a good possibility to do it," he said.

Eriksson will be pitting his wits against Luiz Felipe Scolari, who was behind England’s 2002 World Cup exit by Brazil and their Euro 2004 defeat by Portugal, both in the last eight.

We are better, we have a better squad, we have a better team," said Eriksson. "We are still a young team but have a lot of experience in the team so I am very confident, and, as I always told you, the players are much more confident today than they were two or four years ago."

That confidence has not been reflected in sparkling performances by his side in Germany, with England grinding out three dour wins and a draw to reach the quarter-finals.

"I`m not completely happy how we played. I`m completely happy about the results but I know that we can play better and we will play better tomorrow," said Eriksson.

Despite his own reservations, he brushed off the media criticism which has been leveled at his side.

Asked if he was concerned about the brickbats, he said: "Sometimes some of you come in with a question about playing badly and winning; OK, I can take that, but if you play bad football for a long time normally you don’t win football games."