England's World Cup Draw: High Profile Reactions...

As last night's draw was unfolding, plenty of reactions were pouring in. Following are few from the English-men who matter:

Capello: "You have to respect all the teams and I know from my experience as a player that when you have to play here, the pressure is different and the mentality is different."
"We played against Slovenia at home and I well remember suffering in the second half. Slovenia's style is Balkan. They are technically good, a lot of passes and imagination. USA can prepare for the World Cup better than us and prepare with their training a long time before us." The manager admitted he knew "nothing" about Algeria and saw only "some moments" of their dramatic victory over Egypt. "I saw the goals they scored to qualify but not too much to understand the style or what will happen during the game."

Beckham: "It's a very interesting group. You don't get easy games at the World Cup. As a country we're very honored to be here and very honored to play a part in such a historical time in South Africa."

Gerrard: "I am really encouraged by the draw. It is all we could ask. There are no surprises and it's been really kind, even beyond the first group stage. We have to be professional and show the right attitude, because even though we'll be massive favorites you know the other teams in our group will see England as a huge scalp - almost their own World Cup final. But we have to be confident of getting maximum points, otherwise we shouldn't be going. And that can give us the confidence to progress, given that a lot of the favorites to win the trophy are in the other half.

Terry: "We've been labeled the Golden Generation and soon we'll find out if we can live up to the billing or risk being dubbed the Lost Generation," he told the Sun. He spoke of "a lot of unfulfilled ambition in the dressing room" and added: "For myself, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, David James, Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand it's now or never."

Lampard: "People want and expect us to win the tournament, which is how we feel as players. Anything other than winning it would be failure almost."

Shearer: "Fabio Capello will be sat in his seat in Cape Town, and inside he will be absolutely delighted with that draw. I can see England doing well in all of their group games. I don't think anyone can be anything other than delighted with that - if you'd offered that group to Fabio this morning, he would have bitten your hand off."

BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson on England's World Cup draw: "That couldn't have gone any better. Privately, Fabio Capello will be absolutely delighted with that."

Read more here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8391833.stm