Euro 2016: Wayne Rooney insists he is fit for England’s last 16 clash with Iceland despite ankle strapping
Three Lions captain shrugs off fitness scare and demands team discover their ruthless edge in Nice on Monday night
WAYNE ROONEY has shrugged of fitness worries and insisted he will be fit to lead England in their Euro 2016 clash with Iceland.
Rooney turned up for training this morning with his left ankle heavily strapped - sparking fears he could miss the last 16 game in Nice on Monday 27 June.
But the Three Lions captain eased the fears of a nation when he declared himself fit to play - and called on his team to discover their ruthless touch in front of goal.
Rooney said: "I’m fit. I am enjoying my football and the tournament, and really looking forward to the game on Monday.
"The lads are in good spirits, it’s an exciting game for us.
"But we do have to be more ruthless in terms of the chances we have had, we have to take more of them.
"As we’ve seen in the last game, if you don’t take them it can cost you the result.
"Certainly going into the knockout stages we have to make sure if we get those chances, that we have to make the most of them."
Wayne Rooney goes through resistance training in Chantilly
Rooney shrugged off the disappointment of England finishing second in Group B - which has left the country in the same half of the draw as France, Germany and Spain.
And he claimed that the group stages have already shown there is no team who is unbeatable at this year's tournament.
He added: "For us it didn’t matter who we played, we know for us to go further in this competition we are going to have to beat some very good teams
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"As this tournament shows, teams can beat each other.
"I have seen a lot of words saying we’ll have to beat Iceland, France and Spain, but who’s to say they are going to go through. This is a tournament full of surprises.
Rooney turns inside Ross Barkley during England training in Chantilly
"We have to concentrate on Iceland, try and get the win and see where we go from that."
England have struggled against teams who have sat back and defended deep during this tournament, and Iceland are expected to approach the game on Monday with similar tactics.
Rooney accepts he and his team need to find a way of unlocking opponents who pack men behind the ball.
He said: "We have dominated games, haven’t looked like losing them, but we have to take our chances.
"But we have to get that goal, and hopefully if we do that early against Iceland they will have to come out at us and maybe that will suit us.
";It depends how it goes on the day, we feel we are a good team capable of playing against teams who sit back and defend or teams that come and have a go at us.
"We can change our game-plan for whichever team we play.
"Now everyone knows it’s the business end of the tournament we have to be more ruthless definitely to go through."