Quotes About Expectations

I'm not saying there's no pressure at Evergrande, there's pressure at Evergrande all the time. But I am myself and, no matter if I'm playing for Real Madrid or at the World Cup, I've never felt pressure.

It was very difficult to succeed Bert van Marwijk because, two years before, he was second in the World Cup, and then he left a broken-up team behind - so that was much more difficult than you think.

The first one is your first World Cup, so you go into it with a lot of pressure, trying to take it all in, but you are just so focused.

It's true that if it's always going to be that if you win the World Cup or European Championship, you're a success, and if you don't, you're a failure, then you're bedding yourself for a lack of success because there aren't many coaches who have won those things, and there are thousands who haven't.

As a player, perhaps you have the chance to take part in a World Cup or a European Championship twice or three times in a lifetime. Other competitions, you have another match three days later. Here, it's different: we know we're out if we don't win.

There are a lot of players competing for that wide attacking role, and if I'm brutally honest, if you aren't playing regularly, you can't get picked. I found that out, missing out on the World Cup.

Some have said it is the easiest group at the World Cup, but we realize it won't be like that. Germany are a tremendous side, but to be honest I don't know much about Cameroon and Saudi Arabia.

Here at Carolina, our World Cup opponents marked their calendars. Obviously the other nations wanted to win every game, but a big upset over the U.S. was something we knew other teams would cherish.

Right through to the end of the last World Cup game, I still couldn't bear the thought of not being perfect or letting people down.

The problem with me is I always think I should've done better. I felt that after the World Cup final and through my whole career.

To participate in a World Cup is a great honour and achievement. I've played in three World Cups. The whole world watches you during a World Cup and expects you to play innings to win games for your country.

You can't rely on your defence to win a World Cup.

On TV, if you fluff your lines, nobody gives a toss. But if you fluff a penalty in the World Cup, well - we all know how much that matters.

I had a lot of pressure in my career: when you play at World Cup or Champions League final, there is pressure on your shoulders.

If you can't play under pressure, you shouldn't be at a World Cup.

To be honest, I was never expecting to be in a World Cup final, a Euro final, a Champions League final, a Europa League final. I've done much more than I dreamt, and that's incredible.

At the World Cup, it's the very top level. It's going to be tougher.

When I was a player, and since then, we have never been so snobbish as to go into a tournament saying, 'We will win this World Cup.' We aren't like that.

The 2017 European Championship was my first major tournament for England, but everyone tells me the World Cup is a different level.

You don't want to turn up like a Nepal or an Ireland where the entire world thinks that you're not going to win. You rather turn up like an India or an Australia or an England where everybody says this team is going to win the World Cup.

I am not thinking about World Cup and all those things. You can't play freely if you start thinking like that.

I haven't seen many pretty games in a World Cup.

I don't know what I was expecting the World Cup to be like. I never thought to ask anybody; maybe I should have. I've never played in a stadium with, like, 20,000 watching. It was an intense sensory experience.

I'd never allow myself to imagine winning the World Cup. Cynical me!