The World Cup is approaching fast: it's time to get nostalgic and excited.
In the first of a new weekly series as we approach Brazil '14, we spoke to former player, manager and legendary pundit Chris Kamara to discover his top 5 World Cup moments. Read on for England's glory and the greatest final ever.
Chris Kamara is coaching an amateur 5-a-side team against a professional Brazilian women's team in Rio in May. See how they get on by visiting the Strongbow EARN IT in Rio Facebook Page and the Strongbow Twitter Page
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1. England v Germany, 1966
"Well, obviously, at number 1 is the 1966 final when we won it...it's one of those games I've got on DVD and I must watch it at least once a year, but a few years ago I used to watch it more than that. And people who haven't looked back at that game should look back at it, because they all think that in the old days we played a 4-4-2 system and everybody stuck rigidly in their positions and stuff like that, but in the first 5 minutes of the game big Jack Charlton the centre-half is down on the right wing trying to cross the ball into the box. The fluidity of the team...Alan Ball didn't just stay out on the right and Hurst and Hunt didn't just stay in the middle - the movement was fantastic. Nobby Stiles the old sitting midfielder would be just in front of the back four; it's a very interesting watch for anyone who hasn't seen it and it's still one of my favourite games."
2. Brazil v Italy 1970
"The best final that I can remember: the 1970 Brazilian team against Italy in the final. Felix the cat in goal, Carlos Alberto at right back, Gerson in midfield, Rivelino, Tostao, Pele...and that was the real eye-opener for me as a young person really, because '66 was a bit too much for me to take in, even though I was born at that time. But looking at the 1970 team it whet your appetite for football and obviously Pele was the greatest player in the world in those days and he did things in that final that made you think 'wow, this is absolutely magnificent'. They were just a brilliant team. The only thing I did in that game - I had this picture in my mind of the best-ever football match that I'd seen and once again, in later life when I was able to do it, I bought the DVD and because of the heat - because of the temperature and everything in that 70 world cup final in Mexico, it was standing-still football. So even though Brazil won 4-1, the mind played a little bit of tricks on me - they played in spasms rather than intense for the full 90 minutes. Still a great moment though - as a youngster that was what football was all about in those days."
3. USA '94
"Since 1994 I've been to every World Cup Finals since...in 1994 me and my family went over to the United States and we actually stayed in Dallas, and I travelled to watch the games and did a bit of coaching while I was there. Brazil won the trophy and it was a superb occasion. The Americans didn't know too much about football - or soccer as they called it at the time - so it was a real introduction to the Americans."
4. Japan 2002
"After that I went to France in '98 and then Japan 2002 - I had fantastic memories of Japan, as I went there with Jeff Stelling and we saw England beat Argentina 1-0 in Sapporo. That was the first time me and Jeff Stelling had clubbed together as mates from Soccer Saturday - and being in Japan we had a fantastic time, some wonderful memories. Of course, the real Ronaldo was the top goalscorer in that competition and they beat Germany 2-0 in the final in Yokohama I think it was. I saw that game, it was absolutely brilliant."
5. Playing in Cape Town, 2010
"One more great moment would probably be South Africa - going over there it was like, 'don't go over there, it'll be an absolute nightmare for you and someone will attack you with a knife' and all that, and it was nothing like that at all. There was a lot of police presence around but it didn't happen. And I managed to play in the stadium at Cape Town, before the quarter-final, for the Special Olympics XI against a Select team. It was an hour and a half before the Germany v Argentina match kicked off that day, which was just an amazing thing to do. Jacob Zuma, the President, played as well, Lucas Radabe, Clarence Seedorf...it was just an amazing side. I was in Cape Town covering England, but we were due to go out as soon as England went out. So England got knocked out, we were all disappointed, devastated, so we went for one last drink in Cape Town. Lawrie McMenemy and a journalist called Dan King were coming past, so I asked him, 'what are you doing?' and he said, 'the Special Olympics are being embraced by [FIFA President] Sepp Blatter and he's allowing them to play this game in the stadium in Cape Town'. He said, 'what are you doing?', I said, 'we're just on the way to the airport - I'm going', so Lawrie went 'd'you want to play?'. I thought he was joking! He said, 'you can play, you can be my player-coach' - he told me all the star players and I said yes straight away! So I had to phone my wife and cancel my flights - she said 'go for it!' - and it was surreal. My two sons came out for the game, they saw me play in the stadium - it was fantastic. And Germany went on to pulverise Maradona's Argentina with Messi in the side."
(Images: Getty/AllStar/Strongbow)
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