John Terry believes it will be unthinkable for the nation if England fail to qualify for the European Championship Finals next summer.
The England skipper had nothing but praise for the way his side cruised to a 3-0 win over Israel which gets their Euro 2008 hopes firmly back on track.
The victory moves England level on points with Israel and Terry knows the importance of getting the same kind of performance against Russia on Wednesday.
With Michael Owen back among the goals and Shaun Wright-Phillips producing a man of the match display, Terry knows his side have enough quality to compete against the best teams in the world.
Terry said: "This was a very good performance and it gives us a real confidence boost for what is coming.
"There was a lot of pressure on the team - but we dealt with it and we also dealt with Israel. We made it very difficult for them to even get out of their own half.
"I thought Michael Owen was superb. It was a great performance from him and I am delighted. It was a great strike and the way we all went to congratulate him shows the kind of spirit we have.
"Shaun Wright-Phillips was different class. He has been outstanding all season and today he did it for England.
"But there were outstanding performances everywhere. Emile Heskey, Gareth Barry, Micah Richards, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joe Cole - they were all different class today. Emile showed what a nightmare he can be to play against.
"Now we will have to see what happens on Wednesday. Russia are the last stumbling block for us and if we can come through that with three points and then get some of our other players back, it will be unthinkable that we don't qualify."
England
1 Paul Robinson, 2 Micah Richards, 3 Ashley Cole, 4 Steven Gerrard (14 Phil Neville, 71), 5 Rio Ferdinand, 6 John Terry (c), 7 Gareth Barry, 8 Shaun Wright-Phillips (15 David Bentley, 83), 9 Emile Heskey (17 Andrew Johnson, 71), 10 Michael Owen, 11 Joe Cole
Subs not used 12 Wes Brown, 13 David James, 16 Stewart Downing, 18 Jermain Defoe
Israel
1 Dudu Aouate, 2 Yuval Shpungin, 3 Tal Ben-Haim, 4 Arik Benado (12 Omer Golan, 57), 5 Shimon Gershon, 9 Barak Yitzhaki (8 Toto Tamuz, 46), 10 Walid Badir, 11 Idan Tal, 14 Yoav Ziv, 15 Yossi Benayoun (c), 20 Yaniv Katan (7 Michael Zandberg, 73)
Subs not used 22 Nir Davidovic (gk), 16 Yigal Antebi, 19 Gal Alberman, 17 Pini Balali
Kit Colours
England White shirts, Blue shorts, White socks
GK Aubergine shirt, Aubergine shorts, White socks
Israel Blue shirts, White shorts, Blue socks
GK Grey or Black (TBC)
Match Officials
Referee Pieter Vink (NED)
Assistant Referees Adriaan Inia and Hans Ten Hoove (NED)
Fourth Official Bjorn Kuipers (NED)
Attendance 85,372