Rooney confident about England

Manchester United star Wayne Rooney is feeling optimistic about England's chances of beating Italy in Sunday's Euro 2012 quarter-final.

Rooney made his first appearance of the championship against Ukraine on Tuesday and scored the only goal of the game to help the Three Lions secure top spot in Group D and to set up a last eight showdown with the Italians. The United striker senses a quiet confidence within the squad and unlike at previous tournament, he isn't feeling any pressure to lead the country to glory. Having missed the final two group games through suspension, the 26-year-old is convinced on a personal level his performance level can only go up, the further England progress in the competition. He said: "I feel good. I feel fresh. In some ways, missing the first two games may help me in the later games. So I'll be ready. I'm looking forward to it. "You have to play the best teams if you want to win tournaments and how much of a boost would it be for us if we beat them? "[Ukraine] was my first game for a while so it was always going to take time to get into it. There were a few sloppy things, [such as] giving the ball away. "To be honest, I don't feel [the pressure]. Sometimes it might look like that. But I don't think I have to try too hard to make us win. I do hear all that stuff; but I don't take much notice of it. "All I'm going to say is we've got the squad, we're more organised than we have ever been and we are hard to beat now. "If we keep doing that and keep working hard, then there's no reason why we can't go far and be in with a shout of winning it. We are confident."