England midfielder Steven Gerrard wants to banish his World Cup blues by leading Liverpool to Premiership glory.
Gerrard returned to training for the first time since his World Cup heartache when he and teammate Jamie Carragher both missed penalties in England's quarter-final shoot-out defeat to Portugal last month.
Now, the Reds' skipper has set his sights firmly on lifting the one domestic honor he has yet to capture -- the league title.
PHOTO: AFP
"I am desperate to hold the league trophy above my head," said Gerrard. "I have still got painful memories from Germany, but the idea now is to look forward and have a good season for Liverpool. I don't know whether I played at my peak in Germany. I got the chance to play in a couple of positions out there but I did get the chance to burst forward occasionally and score a couple of goals."
"And to be honest, although it ended on a bad note I really enjoyed my first experience of a World Cup, even though that may sound strange," he said. "I scored goals and just being involved was really good after missing the previous one through injury."
The pain of failing to fulfil England's potential in Germany has already started to subside.
"I feel it is already out of my system, as you get more experienced as a player you learn to get bad experiences out of your head quickly," added Gerrard. "Now we have a new season and it would be nice to end the coming campaign on a good note like we did last season with a trophy."
Liverpool lifted the FA Cup last season with a dramatic victory over West Ham, courtesy of two stunning Gerrard strikes, but the midfielder feels cup wins are not enough for England's most successful club.
"Having improved in the league so much last season it is important that we get involved in the title race," he said. "To get to Chelsea we must improve on last season and for the new players who have arrived -- and there may be one more -- to bring something to the squad and strengthen on what we already have. We must make sure we are confident and we must believe we can do it or it won't happen."
He added: "I would like to think this club is on the brink of something special, there are a lot of players in the dressing room who are missing the Premier League title from their CV having won virtually everything else."
Gerrard is more than aware that he is also now being linked with taking over from David Beckham as the new England captain.
"Of course every England player would like to be the captain, but I am not one of those players who will be talking about and trying to get it. That's Steve McClaren's decision and if it comes my way, then great, but if not then I will wish whoever the new captain is every success," he said.
But it is Liverpool's future that is at the front of Gerrard's mind, and he is determined to return his boyhood club to its glorious past, having already led the team to a European Cup triumph last year.
"There is a big, big confidence in our dressing room and we would like to go on and win the Champions League again after experiencing it once," he said. "It's easier said than done, but we need to go further than the quarter-finals like last season, we are better than that."
"We have won two trophies in two seasons, in Europe and the FA Cup. But glory days for Liverpool is about titles and more and more trophies. We won't be talking about glory days here because we know we have a lot of hard work still to do," he said.
Former England striker Ian Wright has urged his adoptive son Shaun Wright-Phillips to stay and fight for his place in the star-studded Chelsea team.
Wright-Phillips was a peripheral figure for the champions in his debut season as Jose Mourinho's men landed a second straight English Premiership title.
And with the close season arrivals of Germany captain Michael Ballack, Ukraine forward Andrei Shevchenko and Nigerian youngster Jon Obi Mikel, the 24-year-old former Manchester City winger could find his first team chances even more limited next season.
Following his move to Stamford Bridge, Wright-Phillips not only found first team soccer hard to come by but he also lost his place in the England squad, missing out on the World Cup finals in Germany.
Speculation has linked him with a move away, possibly on loan, but Wright senior thinks the best thing he can do is prove his worth to Blues boss Mourinho.
"[Shaun] has to stick there, he is at the champions, you don't go to the champions and leave," Wright told talkSPORT radio.
"I read in the papers people calling him a flop. He didn't get the chance to be a flop, that hurts me," he said.
Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso has shrugged off speculation of a transfer to Real Madrid, insisting he has no plans to leave Anfield.
The Spanish international playmaker returned to training this week after reporting back from World Cup duty with Spain to be greeted by reports linking him with a move to the Bernabeu.
But Alonso is adamant that he is going nowhere.
"I am happy here, I am used to closing my ears to such speculation," Alonso said. "I have enjoyed my first two seasons at Liverpool and I will be staying here."
While Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has already stated that Alonso is not for sale, the Reds boss may be willing to let Senegalese midfielder Salif Diao leave after granting him permission to play a trial match for Charlton.
Former player and chairman-elect Niall Quinn was named manager of Sunderland yesterday.
He heads the Drumaville consortium which bought the League Championship team for ?10 million (US$18.43 million) earlier this month. The 39-year-old former Ireland striker played for the club from 1996 to 2002, where he scored 69 goals in 212 games.
Quinn takes over from Mick McCarthy, who was fired in March after almost three seasons in charge at the Stadium of Light.
Former Celtic manager Martin O'Neill reportedly turned down the chance to take over a club that was relegated from the Premier League last season with a record-low 15 points.
A British parliamentary committee has concluded that English soccer's governing body should abolish rules that prevent girls playing in mixed teams with boys after the age of 11, the Guardian said yesterday.
The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee concluded the current restrictions -- imposed in 1921 because the Football Association (FA) deemed the game "unsuitable for females" -- are an artificial barrier to the development of the women's game in the UK, it reported.
The committee was due to officially publish its findings later yesterday.
According to extracts published by the newspaper, the committee concludes: "We recommend that the absolute prohibition on mixed football over the age of 11 be removed and that an informed assessment of individuals' capacity to play in mixed teams should govern selection policy."
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