Before kick-off at the Azteca Stadium, ITV showed a moving feature involving Sir Geoff Hurst, who is the last remaining member of England’s 1966 side still alive. The West Ham icon was speaking about his former team-mates and the impact winning the World Cup had on his life.
When it cut back to the studio overlooking the New York skyline, Neville spoke about his time with Nobby Stiles in his academy days. He said: “Getting quite emotional thinking about it. Nobby Stiles was my coach at England Under-16s. It’s the greatest achievement in English football we’ve ever had, with Bobby Moore and all those great players.
“It’s an emotional thing and something that we’ve not been able to repeat since. But what they’ve achieved back in 1966 was really special and hearing Geoff Hurst talk there was beautiful really.”
The discussion pivoted towards the legacy that 1966 left behind, with Roy Keane proclaiming England as a country should still be proud of the achievement. Neville chimed in with: “I completely agree with Roy. I’ve been to many tournaments with England the expectation on us because of the standard the previous great teams have set, the 1966 team being a pioneering team, if you feel that’s a curse then you shouldn’t be playing for England.
“We never lived up to their standards and what they achieved. You should be inspired by the past, be inspired by success. I think it’s a failure in the mentality when you look to the past where it’s been successful and think ‘oh they’re causing a problem because we’re being compared to them’.”
Before concluding: “That’s not the attitude of a winner and we were unfortunate. It’s the biggest failure that I look at in my football career is the international performances of the teams that I played in, that were never able to go and do what they did. England demands it and needs it, but so does every country and that’s the problem.”
Thomas Tuchel will be looking to bring the World Cup back to England at this summer’s tournament.