Skipper wants Japan success

Last updated : 17 November 2005 By Al Campbell
Liverpool will travel to Japan for the tournament next month and captain Steven Gerrard is hoping to bring the trophy back to Liverpool with him.

He said: "Our job as players is to deliver results and we will be going to Japan with the intention of bringing the trophy home.
 
"We have a great fan base in Japan and I'm sure they're looking forward to seeing us play. It's also an opportunity for us to get a winners medal and this competition gives us a unique opportunity to become World Champions.
 
"There are two ways of looking at this tournament. The first is to see it as a negative and say that it comes at a bad time in the middle of the season. We can also look at it as a positive and say that if we come back as winners with the trophy then it can give us a boost for the rest of the season.
 
"People talk about fatigue and the fact that we'll be playing a lot of games but, trust me, fatigue is much worse when you are losing games. That's why we'll be going there determined to win.
 
"We have games to play before Japan though and hopefully we'll be going there having already qualified for the last sixteen of the Champions League.
 
"We want to do that in our next game because we have home advantage against Real Betis. We don't want to have to go to Chelsea in our last game needing a result because, as everyone knows, that is very difficult."