England manager Steve McClaren has stoutly defended the attitude of his players, insisting that they do care about playing for their country.

England take on Andorra in another crucial Euro 2008 Group E qualifier on Wednesday, with th players having been criticised for lacking passion in recent tepid performances.

But McClaren declared: “They care. They're passionate about playing for England.

“It hurts them when they lose. It's 10 times harder playing for your country than it is for your club.”

Following Saturday's 0-0 draw with Israel, England are three points behind second-placed Russia, five behind group leaders Croatia, and in danger of failing to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.

McClaren added: “There's no problem with their attitude.

“They want to win. They failed on Saturday because they didn't score a goal, end of story.”

And England centre-back Rio Ferdinand has also refuted suggestions that the players lack the motivation for success at international level.

Ferdinand said: “I hear some people say `you're not hungry enough' and that makes me laugh.

“Yes, we're in a sport where we are lucky that we're being paid loads of money and we're not going to disregard that.

“But for our clubs, you don't hear that. When Chelsea won the Premiership last year, when Liverpool won the European Cup two years ago, you didn't hear that.

“You don't hear it when people win things. It's only when it goes a bit pear-shaped that people say `he's too rich', then start looking at the money and saying we're pampered. It's too easy an excuse that people use too often.

“I think players apply themselves on the pitch and the training ground, regardless of whether they are on two shillings or a million pounds a day.”

McClaren referred to England's current goal drought - only one goal in five games - by admitting: “We can be criticised for not scoring and it's a problem we're trying to address.

“It's not just about the strikers, I'm talking about midfield players as well.

“Can we take more risks in the final third? Can we get more bodies into the box? Can we get better decisions on execution? Can we be more positive? That's what we've looked at.”

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Tags: Players, McClaren

Posted on October 9th, 2007 by Klaus Roe
Filed under: Fun and Games