England Supporters Club

Hodgson & Rooney give final thoughts ahead of Iceland game

Roy Hodgson says England are fully aware that they must take their chances if they are to reach the last eight of Euro 2016.

The Three Lions take on Iceland in the round of 16 this evening, with a quarter-final against hosts France on offer for the victors.

And Hodgson, having seen his side score just three goals in as many group-stage fixtures, affirmed that now is the time for his players to become more ruthless in front of goal.

"We desperately want to stay in the tournament," the England manager said at the pre-match press conference in Nice.

"We think that we're good enough to stay in the tournament but to do that we've got to get results, and that must start here because there's no draws available now - it's win or lose.

"We're fully aware of that and we'll be trying our very best to win because we want to stay in the tournament."

Hodgson's thoughts were echoed by his captain, Wayne Rooney, who is in line to return to the starting XI after being benched for last Monday's draw with Slovakia.

"We've dominated the three games we've played," he said, "and we haven't always done that. We know that, if we keep getting chances, we'll score goals.

"But we need to take those chances because we're in the knock-out stages of the tournament so we haven't got much time to be wasteful."

Hodgson added that he expects Iceland, who defied expectations to not only qualify for the tournament but finish second in Group F, to be a resolute test.

He explained: "The character of the Icelandic people - their determination, their ability to survive through hardships - has, I'm certain, been a major factor in their progress.

"We'll have to accept the title of favourites and they will go into the game as underdogs.

"But we know perfectly well that, whether we entitle them as favourites or underdogs, it's going to be a very, very difficult game for us and they're going to be a hard team to beat."