SIR Bobby Robson today applauded the players who are to replay the 1990 World Cup semi-final between England and Germany in Newcastle this summer.

It is being staged at St James' Park on July 26 to raise money for Sir Bobby's cancer charity.

Sir Bobby, now fighting a battle against cancer for the fifth time, said: "I'm thrilled at the prospect of re-uniting my 1990 England squad in support of my charity.

"It will be a pleasure to see them together again and hopefully this time we'll get the result we want against Germany."

''I am very grateful to my former players who are coming up to Newcastle to help us raise money for my charity.

''I'm also very appreciative of the efforts of the German players who have so much further to travel.

''During the World Cup we all had the same aim and that was to win the tournament - but we were on opposing sides.

''It's very special for me now, all these years later, to know we're all pulling together with the same aim, as the same team, fighting cancer.

''The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation is extremely important to me and I'll keep going just as long as I can to help raise the money for the experts trying to find a cure for this terrible disease.

''I understand one in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer and the effects can be devastating.

''It happened to me in an instant. One minute I was sitting watching the football at Ipswich Town and the next minute I was being told I had a cancerous tumour on my brain.

''It happened to me like that, in an instant, and it can happen to anyone.''

Lester Holcombe, from event organisers Toast, said: "This match gives us all an opportunity to stand up and applaud a true gentleman, a fighter and a genuine legend.

"He has given us all so many thrills and we will never forget that semi final in 1990.

"Sir Bobby has now got another cause and he is pursuing that with the same passion and vigour with which he has faced all of his challenges."

The charity match will be a chance for Sir Bobby to settle an old score dating back to that night in Turin, when England cruelly lost on penalties and Paul Gascoigne was reduced to tears by a booking which would have ruled him out of the final, Stars from the original game will be joined by other footballing guests, along with a host of celebrities, competing for The Sir Bobby Robson Trophy.

Sir Bobby remembered: "We had a good group of players that year, very talented, very tough and ambitious. We got better as the tournament progressed, more accomplished, and the fact we lost on penalties and not in open play tells its own story."

He added: "We had great staying power in the team and our ambition was to stay to the bitter end. We were so near, but so far."

The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation was launched in March 2008 and has since raised £1.2m to equip a cancer trials research centre at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, in Newcastle.

Tickets are available through Newcastle United's online box office at nufc.co.uk and are priced at £10 for adults and £5 for children.

To make a donation or for more information on the Foundation, visit www.sirbobbyrobsonfoundation.co.uk or send a cheque to Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, PO Box 307, Heaton NE7 7QG.