Friday 5 September 2014 15:44, UK
Gary Cahill is confident that England can complete the next stage of their post-World Cup rehabilitation with a win in Switzerland on Monday.
But the centre-back has issued a note of caution that it may take some time before the new-look national side, from which key players such as Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have retired, hits top form.
When you’ve had a disappointing game or a tournament, the best thing you can do is to get out there and bounce back.
England play arguably their most difficult game of the European qualifying campaign in Basel and Cahill believes it to be an ideal opportunity for the squad to recover from their poor showing in Brazil, in which they were eliminated at the group stages.
“When you’ve had a disappointing game or a tournament, the best thing you can do is to get out there and bounce back,” said the Chelsea defender.
“We did that in terms of the result on Wednesday and this is a huge game for us coming up next.
“Everyone knows it will be very tough - no disrespect to the other teams that we play but this will be one of the hardest for us and being away from home adds to that.
“But these two games are a great opportunity after what we know was a disappointing summer for us.
“You never forget experiences like that but you have to move on from them. Over time we’ll be fine and the games will help us get the feelgood factor back.”
England beat Norway in a friendly at Wembley on Wednesday night as a warm-up for the match in Basel and gave a full debut to 20-year-old Everton defender John Stones.
The national team has a very young feel to it, with the average age of Wednesday’s line-up being just 24.
But while the quality in the squad is clear, with several of the youngsters at Champions League clubs, Cahill feels it will take time for them to reach their best form as a team.
“If we win on Monday it will help us move forwards but it’s not going to happen overnight,” he said.
“Everyone knows and accepts that but this group will move forward over the next couple of years.
“If we were to get a win on Monday that would be a positive for us, and it would be good to come away with two wins from these games.
“This is a very young team, a very young squad, players like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have retired and then you look to the young players.
“Some of them are playing for great teams so the quality is there and we’re working towards building something for two years’ time.”
