England captain Wayne Rooney believes it is vitally important to start the European Championship qualifying campaign with a positive result in Switzerland.

Just 76 days after their disastrous World Cup campaign came to an end, thoughts have turned to the Three Lions’ next major tournament in France.

A failure of even more epic proportions than Brazil looks necessary to make it out of Group E, although Roy Hodgson’s side face their toughest match first.

Switzerland are ranked ninth in the world and are favourites at the bookmakers to win tomorrow’s game at St Jakob-Park – something Rooney knows they cannot let happen.

“It is important to start the qualifying campaign off with a good result,” he said.

“It is important to try and win the game, but I think not to get beat and give Switzerland the upper hand from the first game is vital.”

Understandably, there is a lot of doom and gloom around the England team in the wake of the World Cup. The public’s apathy was highlighted by the fact Wednesday’s 1-0 friendly win against Norway attracted Wembley’s lowest crowd for an international since the stadium’s opening in 2007.

However, Rooney is confident that good times are around the corner.

“It’s exciting times,” he said.

“The Italy and Uruguay (World Cup) games were disappointing results, but I thought we did well in both games.

“The lads who were at that tournament have gained vital experience.”