The dream that fuels Kevin Keegan is to be in charge of an England team that reproduces the greatest night in recent history.

Keegan was just another spectator as the nation watched spellbound when Terry Venables' side put the Dutch to the sword at Wembley in Euro 96.

That was an unforgettable occasion, as England played with a flair and elan that perhaps only Venables himself felt was possible.

But Keegan believes he has the players and the talent at his disposal to reach those heights again, to make the entire country sit up and believe that England are a world power.

Tomorrow in Charleroi against Germany, England's greatest footballing foes, he has the opportunity to prove it.

'That Holland game is the one I've always picked out,' said Keegan last night, as he prepared to quit England's Euro 2000 base in Spa.

'I would like us to play the way we did against Holland and for the fans to go home as happy as they did that night.

'It's still something I'm aiming for. We've won a few games but we've never got to those heights. It would be a fantastic thing if we could. We're capable of that, no doubt about it.

'But that was a different team, a different era and with different personnel. This isn't at home at Wembley but in Belgium at Charleroi.'

Venables' side, of course, met their Gotterdammerung at the hands of Berti Vogts' Germans in the semi-final. It cannot go to penalties tomorrow but victory would send confidence surging through the country and the England squad after the bitter blow of defeat by Portugal.

Yet, the big question for Keegan is how he can find a way of producing that level of performance. It is the most taxing of dilemmas.

The key to England's display on that balmy Wembley evening was the way Teddy Sheringham dropped off the front to add an extra dimension to the plan. The Dutch, the authors of Total Football, did not know what to do.

If Keegan's England are to spring a similar trap, it can only come if Keegan is willing to take the risk of leaving Alan Shearer as a lone figurehead, with Paul Scholes handed the Sheringham role.

The alternative is more simple. Michael Owen or Emile Heskey - with Owen looking favourite - alongside Shearer, with Scholes in midfield.

Like Brazil, the Germans have a fixed way of playing. The personnel might change but the system never varies.

Keegan, who knows about the Teutonic footballing mindset from his three years with Hamburg, accepted he had to face the problems that have confronted all coaches taking on the Germans for the past 30 years.

The dossier handed to Keegan by coach Les Reed made simple reading. Reed explained: 'They have the wing backs, two manmarkers and a sweeper coming forward into midfield, with Mehmet Scholl playing just behind the front two. It's not so much a rigid shape but it's a more identifiable pattern than Portugal's.'

Against England at Wembley in 1996, Matthias Sammer was the sweeper. Tomorrow it will be Lothar Matthaeus, with Keegan hopeful of exploiting his 39-year-old legs.

Then there will be two defensive man-markers, two wing backs and a destructive holding midfielder - Dieter Eilts in Euro 96, now Liverpool's Dietmar Hamann - and two attacking midfielders.

Of Jens Jeremies and Scholl, it will be Scholl who operates in the more advanced position and it will be Ince's job to neutralise him. If he does, then England believe they will cut off the supply line and choke Erich Ribbeck's strategy.

Keegan said: 'Scholl isn't like Luis Figo but he can cause you problems very quietly. He's a special player, clever on the ball, a real team player. We've got to watch him for 90 minutes.'

More importantly, retaining the shape of the 4-4-2 formation, with Martin Keown in for injured Tony Adams, allows England's biggest weapon the scope to inflict the damage of which he is abundantly capable.

When David Beckham is used in a middle five, his effectiveness is markedly restricted by the defensive demands of the role.

While Christian Ziege is a decent attacking wing back, he is far from an unstoppable force - certainly no Roberto Carlos - and although Beckham will have defensive duties, they should not prove over-burdensome.

Beckham has the capacity to force Ziege back and, even if he does venture forward, Gary Neville has the pace to deal with the Middlesbrough man without being exposed.

If Scholes can push on, forcing Hamann or perhaps Markus Babbel ever deeper, there will be more room for England to utilise and Dennis Wise will have the capacity to rotate the ball and also cover across if needed.

According to the tactical brief supplied by Reed, Germany will not want to be drawn into the sort of hell-for-leather game that developed in Eindhoven.

But England, as against Portugal, are determined to impose themselves on the game. This time, Keegan hopes, they will be able to second-guess the opposition, then take advantage of the evident splits in the German ranks.

'If there are problems in their squad then it could work to our advantage if we can get on top,' said Keegan. 'It's when you're down in a game that spirit comes into it.'

Of course, England were fully prepared to play the Portuguese as well. It was simply that they could not do anything about the brilliance of Manuel Rui Costa and Luis Figo and the clever feints of Joao Pinto.

Sol Campbell admitted last night that England had paid the price for mentally switching off after their lightning start. 'We lost some respect for them when we went 2-0 up. If you give players like that space, they'll use it.

'We've got to learn from that and be more compact all over the pitch and pressurise them.'

Keegan agreed: 'We'll set out to cause them problems but we will be more focused in how to defend as a team. That let us down.'

The history behind this game, and that long 34-year wait for a competitive victory, adds to Keegan's knowledge that victory would be seen by many as over-shadowing anything else that takes place in the tournament.

'All along we had to focus on Portugal first but as soon as the draw was made, a taxi driver told me we had to beat Germany. The taxi driver was right. They usually are!'