Croatia v England Match Programme || Lampard Frank About England Fears

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CROATIA v ENGLAND - LAMPARD FRANK ABOUT ENGLAND FEARS

Frank Lampard will win his 50th England cap in Croatia but feared he would never reach the milestone after the stop-start nature of his early international career.

Lampard made his debut for his country seven years ago against Belgium but had to wait nearly 18 months for his second cap in Sven-Goran Eriksson's first game in charge against Spain at Villa Park.

It was a long battle before he finally established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet, although he has come in for criticism over his recent performances.

The 28-year-old said: "I'm proud to reach 50 caps but there were times when I probably didn't think I would get to this stage.

"I was sitting on the one-cap mark for quite a while watching Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham being the mainstay of the team for a couple of years before I got the next one.

"I wanted to get to this level but you just had to keep working and wait for your breakthrough."

Lampard can expect licence to roam forward against Croatia with Scott Parker and Michael Carrick expected to be deployed in more conservative roles in a 3-5-2 formation.

But he is philosophical about his recent downturn in form which began with a barren World Cup in terms of him delivering goal-power.

Lampard said: "If you play with two of those holding type players in there it would give me more freedom to get forward.

"If you play with one, there will be more responsibility to be involved in the midfield and maybe try to get a grip of the game rather than get in the box so often.

"Why have I not done myself justice in recent matches? I don't know. I'm coming up to 50 caps now and it is never a case of having a clear run when everything is going great.

"Sometimes you have to play an important part for the team, sometimes the ball doesn't go in the net for you, like at the World Cup, and that is part and parcel of being a footballer.

"There has never been a footballer that has not gone through those kind of phases in their career. It is important you work hard for the team and yourself. Maybe I will score some more goals, maybe I won't. If I'm part of a winning team, then I'm happy."

In the absence of so many regular midfielders, Lampard is calling on their replacements such as Parker and Carrick, the latter of whom played in Saturday's goalless draw with Macedonia, to stand up and be counted.

He said: "It will be a test to the depth of the squad. We have had a pretty regular midfield for a while. That can have positives and slight negatives at times.

"But the real positives we will get out of having other players coming in is hopefully they will stand up and show they deserve to be there. That's the big challenge to them."

By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.

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