Hurst backs England youngsters to bring back glory days

Geoff Hurst is confident the young players within Roy Hodgson’s England set-up can go on to inspire the country to major honours.

Hurst scored a hat-trick to propel England to 1966 World Cup glory with a 4-2 extra-time win over West Germany in the final at Wembley.

A 50-year trophy drought has followed, but the 74-year-old believes another trophy is on the horizon.

With 10 members of Roy Hodgson’s last England squad aged 23 or below, the former West Ham striker pointed to exciting youth prospects as the key to future triumphs.

“We’re developing some younger players now, but they’ve got to do what the young players did in our time,” said Hurst.

“Alan Ball, man of the match [in the World Cup final], Martin Peters, didn’t start the tournament, but scored a goal in the final which almost was the winner. They’ve got to grab the opportunity

“The biggest thing in our country now is for England to be successful in a tournament. The passion has got to be there to represent England and I’m sure we can win again.

“We see a lot of cynicism about us not doing it again. I’m positive as a person, you’ve got to be.

“I always maintain we can do it again. We certainly don’t want to wait another 50 years before we do it again.”