England 1:4 Germany: match report

History just refuses to leave England v Germany alone. England crashed out of the World Cup amid controversy in Bloemfontein.

Fabio Capello's team went two goals down in the first half an hour but pulled one back through Matthew Upson’s header. A minute later Frank Lampard appeared to have levelled as his shot came down off the bar and clearly crossed the line. The Uruguayan linesman failed to give the goal. Revenge for the most famous goal in World Cup history?

It was a huge mistake to make in such an important game. While it is still impossible to say for sure whether Geoff Hurst’s second and England’s third had crossed the line in 1966, this was a clear goal. For Tofik Bakhramov read Mauricio Espinosa. He won't be allowed to forget that.

Germany also took vengeance for the 5-1 defeat in Munich, adding two counter-attacking goals in the second half to leave England humbled. For all the righteous English anger about the officials’ error, they were outclassed by Germany.

Capello had spent the night mulling over the decision of whether to recall Jamie Carragher, back from suspension, or retain Upson, who had played ably against Slovenia. In the end he decided to stick with his winning team and retain Upson. It was a resonant decision.

For the first half an hour England slipped effortless into their bad old habits. Gone was the intensity of the Slovenia performance and back was the timidity and ponderousness of the game against Algeria. The tempo was slow and too often they tried to hit overly-ambitious passes.



England were given early warning of the German threat. With just four minutes played, Mesut Ozil got in behind Ashley Cole. He had a tight angle to shoot from and tried to squeeze it between David James’s legs. The England goalkeeper managed to deflect it behind. He didn’t get so lucky next time.

Manuel Neuer, the German goalkeeper, hit a huge punt downfield and John Terry was caught out of position, too far up the field. As the ball sailed over him, Upson was slow to react and Klose pounced, getting ahead of the West Ham defender, holding him off and poking the ball beyond a hesitant James.

Ten minutes later and the German’s cut through the English defence again. Thomas Muller surged forward on the right and found Sami Khedira whose clever flick back to Muller allowed the Bayern forward to slip the ball through to Klose. James was out fast to block.

The German second was another beguiling, fluid move – or at least was made to look that way by England’s static defending. Again it came from the German right as Ozil and Klose combined to put Muller clear. He in turn passed the ball across to Podolski, sprinting forward down the left German left, and he shot underneath James and inside the far post.

Two goals down and facing a heavy defeat, England woke up. James Milner beat Jerome Boateng on the right and sent in and excellent low cross to the near post. Lampard came sprinting in and made good contact but Neuer, whether he was aware of it or not, managed to get a glove to it.

Eight minutes before the break and England pulled a goal back. Lampard went bursting forward and won a corner, took it quickly to Milner, who in turn dished off to Gerrard. The England captain curved in a fine cross which Upson met with a cushioned header past the stranded Neuer.

Just before the German second Defoe had hit the bar after being wrongly flagged offside. That was nothing compared to what Espinoza had in store. Just a minute after scoring Lampard superbly guided a shot against the underside of the bar. It came down and clearly bounced over the line. The England players celebrated. Capello celebrated. The fans celebrated. Espinoza remained unmoved. Rooney led the protests at half-time, with David Beckham waiting to confront the officials at the entrance to the tunnel.

Lampard must have wondered what he had to do. Having been denied by a superb save and the myopia of the linesman, the woodwork was next. From 30 yards he hit a dipping free kick that thumped against the bar.

England were pushing hard but could not quite find the equaliser, Boateng blocking Milner’s shot after Rooney had slipped him in.

Germany, though, killed the game with two counter-attacks that embarrassed the English defence all too easily. They just could not live with the movement of Ozil and, especially, Muller.

The German third came from a Lampard free kick which came back off the wall to Barry. He lost it to Boateng who played it to Muller, running clear. The Bayern player hit a terrific pass out to Schweinsteiger on the German left and he ran forward before cutting inside the retreating Johnson and lay the ball back into the path of Muller. He smashed his shot in at the near post, James diving out of the way.

The fourth echoed the third. The ball was cleared down the German left where Ozil had scampered off in anticipation, leaving Barry in his wake. The German playmaker had plenty of time to pick his pass and found Muller, who converted his second gleefully. This was a landmark performance from the 20 year-old.

Even as Germany chased a fifth, England’s attacking players refused to give up. Gerrard picked up on a cute Rooney lay-off, burst into the box and tried to curl the ball around Neuer. The German keeper made another fine save.

While the English players were understandably angry about the injustice of Lampard’s disallowed goal, this was an impressive performance from this young Germany side. They ruthless exposed England’s weaknesses and will meet either Mexico or Argentina in Cape Town on Saturday.


(source: telegraph.co.uk)