1970 World Cup Finals
After the dramatic events of the previous days it must have been a relief for Bobby to get back within the England training camp. Considering what he had been through he was remarkably fit and he was back in his normal position of captain as England took on their first opponents, Romania.
The game was not particularly exciting but England were the eventual victors by 1 - 0 with a goal from Bobby's West Ham colleague Geoff Hurst.
The second game was against Brazil and many people saw this as the forerunner for the eventual final. This game is famous for so many things. The remarkable save by Gordon Banks from Pele's header which is probably the best save ever and certainly the most often seen on television. Alan ball hitting the crossbar towards the end of the game. The fantastically timed tackle by Bobby Moore, which saw him backing off of Jarzhinio for 20 yards and then taking the ball off his toe at the last minute with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel. But none of this stopped Brazil winning By 1 - 0.
Most famous of all has to be the scene of Moore and Pele swapping shirts at the end of the game. The mutual respect of two giants of the game was there for all to see. Pele turned down other people so that he could swap shirts with the man he called "The greatest defender I ever played against."
The next game was England's last in the group stages and they beatCzechoslovakia 1 - 0 thanks to an Allan Clarke header to set up a quarter- final match against West Germany.
The West Germany game was to be a watershed for England. Leading 2 - 0 with goals from Mullery and Peters and seemingly in control with only 20 minutes to go Sir Alf made a decision that many were never to understand. Bobby Charlton and Martin Peters were taken off to be replaced by Norman Hunter and Colin Bell. You could almost see life come back to Franz Beckenbauer who had been marking Bobby Charlton. Beckenbauer duly scored with a soft shot that Peter Bonetti, deputising for an ill Gordon Banks, should really have saved. The confidence visibly ebbed away from England and Uwe Seeler scored with a header after another mistake by Bonetti to equalise and take the game into extra time. There were to
be no heroics this time and Gerd Muller scored the winner for West Germany.
The whole game had been turned by one substitution and many people could not understand why Sir Alf had done it. Mooro could see the reasoning behind the change but as Bobby Charlton was one of the fitter members of the squad, despite being at the wrong end of his career, he never really understood why Ramsey had selected Charlton to be rested.
Unlike most of the England squad Bobby stayed on to see the rest of the Tournament, which Brazil went on to win with victory over Italy in the final. Little did he know that England was not to appear again in the final stages of the World Cup for 12 years. Moore and Pele swap shirts. The greatest striker and the greatest defender.