Pearce pleased with golden day

The host nation won its first gold medals of the Games as Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins triumphed in the men's time trial and rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning came out on top in the women's pair final.

Pearce's side ensured the 'feelgood factor' continued as Daniel Sturridge's first-half strike saw GB top Group A and set up a quarter-final meeting with Korea Republic in Cardiff.

Pearce said: "Today has been a fantastic day with Wiggins winning gold and that spreads right across Great Britain, it brings a feelgood factor to the Olympics and we are glad to have played our part this evening and got the result to get out of the group.

"We didn't watch it (the rowing or the cycling) together as we had to prepare for this game but I fully expect that most of the players, and a lot of the staff, are watching other events.

"We all feel part of it after our experience in the Olympic village. We all feel part of what's going on.

"I also have to mention the women's team, them winning yesterday gave us a real good lift by beating Brazil.

"They have been playing a day before us and everytime they have got a good result we are trying to emulate them, which is fantastic.

"We are all under the same umbrella and we all want each other to do well."

Pearce also praised the support of the 64,000-strong crowd in Cardiff.

There had been fears that the national anthem would not be well received in Cardiff, but there were no dissenting voices as God Save the Queen was delivered with gusto.

Pearce said: "If we wind the clock back three or four weeks people were saying we would get a negative reaction in Cardiff but we have not seen any of that."

Pearce's side has shown steady signs of improvement as the tournament has progressed, and it continued to do so here.

The midfield triumvirate of Tom Cleverley, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen proving particularly impressive as Ryan Giggs was rested, while captain for the night Craig Bellamy was a nuisance throughout to the Uruguay defence.

And Pearce believes his squad is building nicely as it enters the knockout stages.

"I thought all 18 of the players were fantastic, and it excites me to stay in the competition to play at least one more game with this group.

"We are improving game by game, our fitness levels are improving, our understanding is improving and some of the passing, especially in the first half, was outstanding."

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez refused to be critical of his players, as they became the second fancied side to exit the competition along with World and European champion Spain.

He said: "We were looking for something we didn't get from this game. We worked really hard and created chances even though GB in the last 15 minutes of the first half were better and had a lot of possession.

"We fought until the end and we have nothing to complain to the players about because they gave their all."