Alan Shearer: England’s Euro 2016 joy after beating Wales could quickly turn to crushing disappointment

THERE is an understandably upbeat mood about England after snatching that last-gasp win over Wales.

A moment like that can really lift the nation and for Roy Hodgson’s men change the course of their tournament.

But I know only too well how that feeling can quickly turn to crushing disappointment at a finals.

Euro 2000 was a tournament I had high expectations about.

I had already announced I would be retiring from international football afterwards so I was determined to make it a good one.

As ever with Kevin Keegan in charge there was a really upbeat feeling about the camp heightened, of course, when we went 2-0 up against Portugal in our opening Group A game.

For the neutral it must have been a cracker as Portugal came back to win 3-2. But it left us needing a win over the old enemy Germany in the very next game in Charleroi.

Having lost our previous five meetings with them — including the Euro 96 semi-final on penalties — there was a desperation to exact some revenge.

Well we did just that as I managed to get the winner with a header and suddenly we were back on track.

But few will remember that win because all the hard work was undone in the very next game.

All we needed was a draw against Romania to get through.

Having swapped the lead the game looked to be heading for the draw we needed — and then Romania won a penalty in the 89th minute and we were out.

You can come unstuck by playing for a draw

I look back now and wonder if we approached the second half in particular in the right way, if mentally knowing a point was enough produced a nervousness in the latter stages.

Certainly I think we took our foot off the gas in the second half and paid the price.

It was awful after the game. We knew we had let a real chance slip.

A chance we had given ourselves without having played very well in either of the first two games. It was not the way I wanted my international career to end, that is for certain.

Believe me, we were fully aware of how let down the fans must feel in a situation like that because we felt the same.

We had lifted everyone up and then dropped them down again.

It is why England cannot mess about against Slovakia tonight.

Four points is not necessarily going to be enough, so one more is needed.

But if we go into the game playing for that we can come unstuck.

There is no reason why we should, either, particularly after the second half against Wales.

In the first period our play was far too slow and there was no width to our game.

That all changed after the break. It wasn’t just the substitutions that helped but the positive way we approached that second period.

The full-backs got further forward, suddenly there was that width and we moved the ball around quickly.
I thought Wayne Rooney was really excellent. He has been in both games.

It shows what a good football brain he has in adapting to this new midfield role.

I backed him last season when others were writing him off because he is so good on the ball he can play in different positions.

We all lose that little yard of pace in our latter days as a striker but that does not always mean you should be written off as a footballer — as he is proving.

So it is a case of more of the same from the second half against Wales.

We need to do that tonight, but for a full 90 minutes, and really put a marker down with a good win to top our group.

That is key because we would then play one of the sides finishing third and that would give us a real chance of progressing to the last eight.

A good strong win will also help the momentum and build the confidence which is so important in football.

I have not seen an outstanding team in the competition yet.

There have been some good games and some drama but no side who you would actually say ‘they are the ones to beat’.

We have a chance to become that team.

The mood is up and we need to keep it that way with the right attitude tonight or, as I found out, things can very quickly change.