England captain Steven Gerrard has revealed that the squad are optimistic ahead of their meeting with Uruguay and also talked up the significance of Thursday's game.

Both teams need a win after suffering defeats in their opening games on Saturday, and the Liverpool skipper has stated that the team are approaching the match as though it were a cup final.

He told reporters: "It's not a cup final, but we will treat it like one. We are very confident going into the game that we can get the result.

"I can only judge by what I see. As a team we were very upbeat by Italy performance. Only thing we can control is what happens tomorrow.

"Games at this level are very important. I'm the captain and need to be ready. I'll do more homework the night before. I have no doubt we will cause Uruguay problems going forward, and if we can get our defensive side right we can get the right result."

Meanwhile, manager Roy Hodgson was coy when pressed about his team selection ahead of the game.