World Cup legend Sir Geoff Hurst tells Gareth Southgate’s stars: “You CAN do it.”
Ahead of England’s match with Iran, the 1966 hero says: “If ever we needed a boost, it is now.”
Writing for the Sunday Mirror, the Three Lions legend pens:
We're just 24 hours away from England’s World Cup opener against Iran and I’m feeling nothing but positivity.
We CAN win this World Cup and it won’t be a surprise to me if we do. It’s as simple as that.
We have the best bunch of young players at the top level and they have great experience after reaching the final of the Euros last year and the semi-finals of the last World Cup.
The country is obviously going through a difficult time with the costof-living crisis and rising taxes which are making things very difficult for people, especially families.
It’s awful, so if ever we needed a boost it is now – and I think the players understand that.
Football is gigantic to the country, so it’ll be fantastic if we do well. It’ll make everyone feel better and will give the entire country an enormous boost.
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It couldn’t come at a better time. Camaraderie No one knows better than me what a boost doing well in a World Cup gives a country and how people talk about it.
Fifty-six years on from our victory in ’66, people still tell me even now where they were and what they were doing when we won.
And in many cases now, their kids or grandchildren tell me that Dad or Grandad is still talking about it. So I can see the direct impact it has on families.
There have been stories coming out this week about previous England squads and how they had a lack of team spirit and camaraderie, with cliques between certain players. I find that flabbergasting and appalling
During those times there were spells when players didn’t want to turn up unless they knew they were playing.
Some players felt it was more important to be playing for their clubs in Europe rather than for England, which was absolute nonsense.
We had a very good team spirit in ’66 under Alf Ramsey’s management. He got players out who didn’t want to be part of it. I couldn’t wait to play for England when I got called up.
And this squad is the same under Gareth Southgate. One thing that showed that brilliantly – and I enjoyed seeing during the Euros – was the players enjoying riding plastic unicorns in their hotel swimming pool.
I couldn’t quite see Jack Charlton in the middle of the pool on the back of a unicorn! But the thought of it brings me great amusement.
It’s just one of many examples of how times have changed dramatically and how the game has moved on gigantically in the last 50 years.
One of the most fundamental issues about the team winning, not just in football but any walk of life, is a group of people working together.
At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil we were knocked out in the group stage before we’d even started. And at the 2016 Euros we were knocked out after losing to Iceland (the country, not the shop). It was very poor and at that point, never in our wildest dreams would we have thought that at the next two tournaments we’d be in the semi-finals of the World Cup and the final of the Euros.
It’s all changed, with Southgate doing a fantastic job. There were a couple of iffy results recently, but they were at the end of a long season and weren’t important.
And I won’t be part of saying anything negative about him in whatever form. He’s a forthright character and his judgment is great.
Fans I’ve spoken to seem excited, but also a little bit negative about our chances.
But that’s what football fans are like. In ’66, when we kicked off the tournament against Uruguay, it ended in a very disappointing 0-0 draw.
They were very negative and didn’t want to come over the halfway line – and at the end of the game, we were booed off the field. It’s amazing how quickly things can change.
If we got knocked out in the group stage I’d have a moan, but I can’t see anything to be negative about.
The usual suspects like Brazil, Argentina, France and Germany are all capable of winning it as well. But I don’t think there are necessarily any outstanding teams for us to be worried about in this World Cup.
I’ve had an invitation to go to Qatarand if we get to the final I would be interested in going over there, but at the moment I’m planning to watch all of the games at home with my wife. It doesn’t bother me that it’s being played in our winter.
I’ll still watch it and enjoy it. And I think playing this tournament halfway through the season, rather than at the end of a long and arduous Premier League campaign, could be beneficial to us.
You could even argue our players could be at their peak right now. Yes, the heat in Qatar could play a role, but it’s going to be the same for every team.
If I were to give this England side any advice, I would tell them we need to score more goals from midfield – because we shouldn’t be relying on Harry Kane.
He’s a fantastic player and no one admires him more than me, but as much as I think he’s brilliant, it’s not all about focusing on one player.
It’s about the whole team – and particularly goals from midfield. We’ve got some fantastic midfield players – Foden, Rice, Mount, Bellingham, Phillips… the list goes on.
And Kane comes off and sets things up very well, so I think it’s important they get forward and get goals as well.
That’s not a criticism of them, but a positive view on what I’ve seen and where the team are and where we need goals from.
I had a surprise Zoom call with Declan Rice earlier this year and one of the things I said to him about both West Ham and England is that we need to get more goals from the middle of the park.
That really means getting in the box. In our time, we had Martin Peters who had a record of one goal in three games – and he scored what almost turned out to be the winner in the final in ’66.
He was called a ghost, but he wasn’t. It’s just that any time the ball was in the box, he was in there.
Bobby Charlton had a record of one goal every two games.
Today’s players are capable of doing it. They just need to get in there.
Six times out of 10 it won’t get to you but a couple of times it will – and when you’re close to the goal, it’s in.
My main message to the players is to go out there and be positive. We can win it!
