Quarter-final three



v



England v Portugal

Thousands of England fans have gathered in Gelsenkirchen ahead of the World Cup quarter-final match against Portugal.

It is believed 80,000 are in the city but only 30,000 will get to see the 1600 BST game to be played under a closed roof at the AufShchalke Arena.

Frank Lampard and Gary Neville will both start for England after shaking off injuries.

Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a race against time to recover from an injured thigh.

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This is turning into a World Cup of promises. "We're doing our best to improve," Thierry Henry said this week on behalf of France. "We've got to raise our level," Mario Zagallo, Brazil's veteran assistant coach, remarked. "What's most important for a team that wants to win the title," he added, "is to know how to give more at the key moment." For no team is this need to make performance match potential more urgent than for England, and no one sees it more clearly than Steven Gerrard, in words that reflect his uncompromising directness.

When he was asked, on the eve of today's quarter-final against Portugal, whether England could win the tournament if they carried on playing the way they have played in their first four matches, he avoided the verbal formulations used by most of the squad, including the head coach, to deflect the unwelcome thought.

We're going to win this match today and we are going to go to the Semi Finals god dammit!