England will play in their eighth World Cup quarter-final on Saturday. So far we've won two and lost five. We've scored 11 goals against 16. Garrincha - Rattin - Beckenbauer - Maradona - Milla - Ronaldinho…they've all played their part in some memorable matches.

But the first was in 1954, only our second tournament, when Uruguay beat us 4-2 in Basle. We were definitely in with a shout at 2-1 and 3-2 but Ambrois' cross-shot in the 79th minute flew past an unsighted Gil Merrick to clinch it. Two legends, Nat Lofthouse and Sir Tom Finney, scored for us. The match programme had "St Matthews" as England's No.7.

Brazil's Garrincha, the "Little Bird", dazzled us with his tricky wing-play in the next quarter-final in 1962. He also netted twice - firstly when he leapt in front of a much taller Maurice Norman to head in from a corner and then when he curled an unstoppable 25-yarder over Ron Springett. Gerry Hitchens, the Villa striker who went to Inter-Milan, had equalised at 1-1.

We won a quarter-final in '66, of course, but what a strange game. Soon after booking Antonio Rattin for tripping Bobby Charlton, West German referee Kreitlein sent the Argentine skipper off for "violence of the tongue". Rattin, who claimed he was merely asking for an interpreter, left the field reluctantly and play was held up for eight minutes. Geoff Hurst, replacing the injured Jimmy Greaves, glanced in Martin Peters' searching cross from the left and we were in the semis for the first time.

The World Cup holders went to Mexico four years later with arguably an even better team. We scored just twice in three group matches but lined up against West Germany (again) in our fourth quarter-final in Leon.

Not only that, England were 2-0 up midway through the second half - through Alan Mullery and Peters - and apparently coasting. Franz Beckenbauer pulled a goal back with a shot from distance that bounced under Peter Bonetti, in at the eleventh hour for the stricken Gordon Banks, and Bobby Charlton was controversially substituted two minutes later.

A freakish back-header from Uwe Seeler levelled with eight minutes to go and Gerd Muller's volley on 109 minutes won it for West Germany.

There could hardly have been a more traumatic World Cup exit - then we came up against Diego Maradona's Argentina in Mexico City in our next quarter-final in 1986.

It was 0-0 at half-time. Then Maradona, indisputably the player of the tournament, scored twice inside five minutes. The first goal was punched into the net, a misdemeanour not seen by the Tunisian referee; the second was a final flourish after a run from inside his own half that took the Argentine captain past - or through - most of the England team.

John Barnes came on for Trevor Steven with 16 minutes to go, setting up two heading chances for Golden Boot winner Gary Lineker. One went in; one, bizarrely, didn't.

Italia '90. Another tournament, another quarter-final for England. We were very close to losing to Cameroon, the Africa "surprise packet", with Lineker's nerveless 82nd-minute penalty making it 2-2 in Naples. David Platt had headed us in front before Roger Milla, then 38, came on for the second half to inspire Cameroon to find the net twice in five minutes. Another Lineker spot-kick in extra time took us through.

One more breathless quarter-final to come - in 2002 against Brazil, destined to win the trophy for the fifth time. England were ahead on 23 minutes, Michael Owen gently lifting the ball over Marcos' dive, and held that lead until the last seconds of the first half.

Rivaldo buried a left-footer past Seaman and the Arsenal 'keeper was disappointed to be beaten by Ronaldinho's speculative free-kick five minutes into the second period. The latter was subsequently red-carded but England couldn't win their seventh and most recent quarter-final.

Portugal, by contrast, have only played in one previous World Cup quarter-final. The team graced by Eusebio, the tournament's top-scorer with nine, reached the semis in England in 1966.

Their quarter-final opponents at Goodison Park were North Korea, who had shocked the football world by beating Italy 1-0 at Ayresome Park in their final group match. There were more shocks in store for the Portuguese as the Koreans went 3-0 up in the first 24 minutes. Then Eusebio clicked into gear, bagging four goals himself (including two thumping penalties) in a 5-3 win.