Sir Bobby Charlton: The spirit of '66 can inspire this team to glory in Berlin
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Your support makes all the difference.The signs have not been good, I know, but I still believe England can win the World Cup. In saying this I go back to that day 40 years ago when I was able to share with great characters like Bobby Moore, Nobby Stiles and my brother Jack and all the others, the proudest moment of our lives. It was after we beat Argentina in the quarter-final that I truly believed we could go all the way, that our manager Sir Alf Ramsey was right to insist all along that it was within our power - and when Argentina were beaten that feeling took over the team.
If England beat Portugal today - and I'm confident they can - they will also have that overwhelming feeling that they are so close to the glory they cannot let it go.
First of all, though, you have to believe in yourselves. You have to say, "Yes, we have the talent and the character to do this."
I don't think we should have any doubt that despite some unconvincing performances so far we retain both the talent and the character to do the job.
Talent? Character? For me it is most embodied in Wayne Rooney. What an amazing young footballer he is. There were legitimate doubts about his ability to recover from injury quickly enough to make an impact on this tournament. But he has defied the pessimistic forecasts. He has shown tremendous will and self-confidence and this has probably been least surprising for those of us who see him week in and week out at Old Trafford. Of all his qualities his determination to succeed is the greatest.
Rooney (right) has a relish for the game which is quite remarkable. And just as England benefited so much from this passion and talent two years ago in the European Championship, before he was struck down by injury, I believe he can have the same effect in Gelsenkirchen today.
We know we have some outstanding talent in the team and now it has to be produced. If Frank Lampard is fit enough to play he will again take on the field the potential to be a match-winner. He is one goal, one break away from getting back all of his old confidence. We know what Steven Gerrard can do.
What must happen, and I pray that is does, is that today's England experience that sudden change of mood we enjoyed on the last steps to the final against Germany.
Going into the semi-final we were filled with confidence, we could scent the glory, but Portugal had enough talent to prevent us from taking anything for granted.
Alf had two chief concerns. Eusebio, a great player of course, was number one but inevitably the job was handed to Nobby and he tackled it brilliantly right from the start. Torres, the big centre forward, was also a worry, but we managed to isolate him for most of the match.
I happened to score both the goals in the 2-1 win but once again it was above everything a team triumph, and especially the way Alf had conceived our campaign. The 4-3-3 system gave all our opponents problems right through the tournament, and it was because I was doing my job in that system, defending when we didn't have the ball and attacking when we did, that the first goal came.
Ray Wilson brought the ball out of defence and I was running alongside him. He over-hit his pass to Roger Hunt, but the Portuguese defence panicked and the ball came back to me from the goalkeeper about 15 or 16 yards out. I passed the ball into the net between two defenders. I'm proud of that goal, particularly, because it would have been easy to have blazed away.
Geoff Hurst held the ball up very well for me when I scored the second, just delivering it to me at the right moment. It's a goal I remember so well because when it went in I thought, "Right, we're in the final, we're going to win it all." When Jack handled the ball eight minutes from the end, and they scored from the spot, there wasn't too much alarm. We knew we could defend our lead - and we also had huge trust in Gordon Banks in goal.
England must have that belief today. If they do, and deliver the best of their talent, they will be just one step away from the greatest day of their football lives. Then, I think we can be sure, they will tell themselves anything is possible. It is my deepest wish - and, I'm sure, that of all of the boys of '66 - that they do it. It would make England so happy - and it would change their lives.
Sir Bobby Charlton was talking to James Lawton
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