Lampard has no plans to quit England duty
442 Staff - Thursday 31 May 2012, 13:30
Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard has no plans to quit international football, despite his participation at Euro 2012 being thrown into doubt.
The England stalwart suffered a thigh strain during training with the national side on Wednesday ahead of their friendly with Belgium at Wembley.
Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson has been informed that he could be drafted into the squad should the 33-year-old be forced out of the tournament.
His absence in Poland and Ukraine will be sorely missed if the problem persists, but Lampard admits he has no plans to turn his back on the national side, regardless of his participation this summer.
"I don't see myself retiring from international football in the near future, so I wouldn't call this my last tournament necessarily," said the Blues midfielder.
"But I'm no fool and I know that age is a factor. I will take this as potentially one of my last chances. In the Champions League I had that same mindset."
Lampard has backed new national coach Roy Hodgson to succeed in his role, despite being appointed just weeks before the European Championships, and points to the impact Roberto Di Matteo made with Chelsea in such a short space of time.
"It's certainly possible to create something very quickly," he added.
"There's no magic formula in football. You can have the right preparation and the surroundings for a tournament.
"But in my opinion man-management is of the utmost importance in top football these days. When you've got a very good squad of players, of course there's training and tactics and stuff which are important. But the man-management issue at Chelsea was the huge thing.
"Robbie took players aside and talked to them and made them feel confident. He brought the best out of them, and when you can do that you've got a chance. If England can do that as a group then I still think we've got a great chance."