Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson believes a quick turnaround from defeat in the Champions League final to representing England at the World Cup can ease the pain of defeat to Real Madrid in Kiev.
Two huge goalkeeping errors from Loris Karius and a spectacular overhead kick from Gareth Bale prevented Henderson from lifting his first trophy since replacing Steven Gerrard as skipper at Anfield in a 3-1 defeat on May 26.
“It’s been difficult over the last ten days. It was hard to take,” Henderson said on Tuesday.
“I’ve had a little bit of time off and time with the family, which was important. It was good to get my head around it and have some downtime to refocus on what is important and that is the World Cup now.
“That is where the focus has got to be. I think it is a good thing, I get straight back to business.”
Harry Kane edged out Henderson for the honour of captaining his country in Russia despite the latter being one of the more experienced heads in a youthful squad selected by Gareth Southgate.
Henderson, 27, is one of few survivors from England’s group stage exit at the last World Cup and a humiliating defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.
Impressive results in warm-up friendlies against tournament favourites Brazil and Germany, as well as the Netherlands, Italy and Nigeria have raised expectations that Southgate’s men can succeed where their predecessors have failed at recent major tournaments.
But Henderson warned they have to produce when the pressure increases once the World Cup gets underway.
“I am not going to sit here and make that an excuse for what happened in the Euros,” he added.
“But what I will say is that this camp is in a good place, physically and mentally, which is important before a big tournament.
“We have just got to do the business on the pitch now.”
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