Captain Steven Gerrard said on Tuesday that England wants to make the nation proud with victory over Slovenia in Wednesday's World Cup clash in Port Elizabeth.

England have to beat current Group C leaders Slovenia to make sure of their place in the last 16 and Gerrard knows there has to be a significant improvement.

The Liverpool captain wants a return to the form demonstrated during the qualifying campaign when Fabio Capello's side won nine of their 10 matches.

The 30-year-old said: "It is a do-or-die situation. We need to perform, we need to improve on the last performance.

"The training was very sharp this morning and hopefully everyone can do the business.

Gerrard feels deeply the need to placate the thousands of England fans in South Africa after the final whistle against Algeria was greeted with boos.

He said: "We have come into this tournament with big expectations, we have big support out here.

"People have paid good money and expect us to win football matches. We as players take responsibility for under-performing in the last game.

"We want to make the nation proud and happy and a good win tomorrow can give the players more confidence."