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Home  » Sports » Eriksson hails two-goal Rooney

Eriksson hails two-goal Rooney

June 18, 2004 00:08 IST
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England coach Sven Goran Eriksson paid tribute to two-goal hero Wayne Rooney on Thursday after the 3-0 defeat of Switzerland at Euro 2004.

Eriksson, who called the result a "good job done", could not hide his delight at the 18-year-old striker who is now the youngest scorer in European Championship history.

"It was fantastic, two beautiful goals both of them, he worked very hard as well. To put in that performance at this level -- it's incredible."

England started the Group B match nervously but Rooney, who was named man-of-the-match broke through in the 23rd minute with a header from Michael Owen's cross.

Eriksson said: "When you lose a game like we did last Sunday, you never know the reaction," he said referring to the last-minute 2-1 defeat by France. Maybe we were a little nervous at the beginning."

Rooney said: "We played well as a team and luckily I scored two goals. The first goal I couldn't miss and the second I hit it as hard as I could and it went in."

"I'll definitely be claiming it," he added, referring to the fact that his shot cannoned off the post and into the net via Swiss goalkeeper Joerg Stiel.

"It's a relief to get back after the France game and hopefully we can go and win the next game.

"When they got the man sent off we took advantage and got the two extra goals."

Switzerland's Bernt Haas was shown the red card in the 60th minute for a second yellow card.

England will qualify for the quarter-finals if they beat Croatia in their final group game in Lisbon on Monday.

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Source: REUTERS
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