Parker praises England's 'courage and heart'

Late goals from Gary Cahill and Ashley Young pulled Stuart Pearce's team level, but Arjen Robben curled in a brilliant winning goal to undo the England comeback. "I thought we showed great courage and heart to get back into the game," Parker told reporters. "Going two goals down, we'd fallen apart really. Holland have got world class players, and sometimes it's as simple as that. "The way we've performed tonight, we don't think sheer grit, determination and courage is going to win you a tournament. "We understand that we need to work on things and get technically better, but we all need to stay positive and realise that tonight is a great hope for us. Coming back from 2-0 was massive really." Parker captained England for the first time after being handed the armband by Pearce, and admitted he would love the job on a permanent basis. "Of course I would like the captaincy," he said. "There are other players, like Steven Gerrard, who have been there and done it so it's going to be difficult for me. "Steve was fine [about the decision to award Parker the armband]. He's the ultimate professional, he was the first person to come up to me and congratulate me." The Tottenham man emphasised togetherness as the key to success for England at Euro 2012 following an influx of young players into the squad. "There were a lot of young players out there today – I thought Daniel Sturridge did very well today, and so did Ashley Young and Phil Jones," Parker said. "But we need to get together as a team – as a nation, we need to be a team. If we can do that, we can do well."