THE youngest member of England's World Cup winning team today heaped praise on teenage Euro sensation Wayne Rooney.

Former Saints and Pompey boss Alan Ball was just 21 when he helped England lift the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1966.

Thirty-eight years of hurt later and 18-year-old wonderboy Rooney is the young man on whose broad shoulders a nation's hopes rest in tonight's quarter-final clash with Portugal.

"Rooney is a very special talent, he's been leaving some of the senior players red-faced with how he's played," said Ball.

"He is a gem we desperately need to polish and nurture - it can be very difficult for a young boy to keep on the right track. I hope he's getting good advice from family and friends.

"How many have we seen talked up before only to fall by the wayside?

"He will be playing the same way I played when I broke into the England side aged 19 - without fear, loving every minute of it, not really knowing how serious it all is, not old enough to really get too worried about losing.

"I'm not surprised by what's he achieving - Colin Harvey at Everton once told me this boy had all the talent.

"He can be as good as he wants to be.

"But he's just a kid and I'm worried where the goals are going to come from if he dries up - we can't keep on relying on a kid."

As England prepares for another dose of football fever tonight, Ball, who won 72 England caps, said: "Can we win it? Let's take it a game at a time.

"Portugal have been improving, but so have we - and our big guns haven't been firing yet, Beckham, Scholes, Owen and Gerrard to a lesser degree.

"The manager is playing the best players he has - whether he's playing them in their best positions I don't know.

"I still worry about the goalkeeper and I still worry about the defence, but we're getting better."