World Cup Diary 23. Good Luck England.

When England take to the pitch in Germany on Saturday it will be 4 o'clock in the afternoon back home where the roads will be deserted and every street sports outbreaks of the team colours and the fluttering of flags with the red cross of St.George.

The country is adorned in its own colours as never before and eleven young men will take to the pitch carrying all this hope and desire with them. It is a footballing nation behind them, and with them, as they take on Portugal for a place in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

The hope and expectation has grown in line with the supporters and fans own assessment of the qualities of the players that make up the squad. Winning is special and on board with England there are proven winners of European Cups and Premier League trophies.

The desire is etched into every players face and across England the supporters go about their business half-distracted as the focus grows.

Every fan would love to be there to be given a seat in the stadium where the players can hear your voice as fortune twists and turns.

That is a privilege that not everyone can enjoy but there would be nothing worse than to see the dreadful Barwick of the FA taking his seat - the man who sacked Sven and went after Scolari, the incumbent Portugal manager should perhaps look into finding another admin. job somewhere else. The players and the manager have a job to do tomorrow.

When the England players take to the pitch playing for a semi-final place in the 2006 World Cup they need no leadership or motivation. They will play with all the honest desire that fuels a childs dreams, the dreams everyone who ever played the game as a child will know.