Afterwards like everyone else the coach seemed to have trouble believing what he had seen I’m not shocked but
Afterwards, like everyone else, the coach seemed to have trouble believing what he had seen “I’m not shocked but, 5-1, it’s a lot,” he said “I didn’t know what to say to the team afterwards. Across Europe football fans will say ‘Oh, 5-1′ that’s a good result in Germany.”The result, the heaviest home defeat inflicted on Germany since Austria beat them 6-0 in 1931, may have reverberated around the Continent but its impact will be felt most in the combatants. Germany have never failed in a World Cup qualifying campaign but if they do not quickly recover their confidence Andrei Shevchenko could further ravage their defence in the probable play-offs.In England, meanwhile, perhaps this result will enable the significant minority of often boorish, occasionally violent supporters to shake off the ‘two World Wars and one World Cup’ complex about Germany. To judge from the drunken singing keeping Munich awake shortly before dawn yesterday, that may be optimistic.A massive security operation is being regarded as a success because only a few bars were smashed up and a few heads cracked. Any other country would be ashamed but we are now inured to it. Did the Dutch, no pussycats, smash up Dublin after they lost on Saturday? No.The prospect of a repeat, in Japan and South Korea next summer, of the trouble that marred World Cup 98 and Euro 2000, is the only sour note this morning.
The team, under Eriksson’s calm and logical command, have achieved maturity. Is it too much to ask that the fans, many of whose support is magnificent, should do the same?Goals: Jancker (6) 1-0; Owen (12) 1-1; Gerrard (45) 1-2; Owen (48) 1-3; Owen (66) 1-4; Heskey (74) 1-5.GERMANY (3-4-1-2): Kahn (Bayern Munich); W? (Borussia Dortmund), Nowotny (Bayer Leverkusen), Linke (Bayern Munich); Rehmer (Hertha Berlin), Hamann (Liverpool), Ballack (Bayer Leverkusen), B? (Schalke 04); Deisler (Hertha Berlin); Neuville (Bayer Leverkusen), Jancker (Bayern Munich). Substitutes: Asamoah (Schalke 04) for W?, h-t; Klose (Kaiserslauten) for Ballack, 67; Kehl (Freiburg) for Neuville, 77.ENGLAND (4-4-2): Seaman (Arsenal); G Neville (Manchester United), Campbell (Arsenal), Ferdinand (Leeds United), Ashley Cole (Arsenal); Beckham (Manchester United), Gerrard (Liverpool), Scholes (Manchester United), Barmby (Liverpool); Owen (Liverpool), Heskey (Liverpool). Substitutes: McManaman (Real Madrid) for Barmby, 65; Hargreaves (Bayern Munich) for Gerrard, 77; Carragher (Liverpool) for Scholes, 83.Referee: P Collina (Italy) Bookings: Germany: Hamann England: Heskey.Man of the match: Owen.Attendance: 63,000..
After savouring a result which demolished, in 90 minutes, a sense of inferiority to German football which had been 30 years in the creation, England return to the training ground this morning with orders to set Munich aside. After savouring a result which demolished, in 90 minutes, a sense of inferiority to German football which had been 30 years in the creation, England return to the training ground this morning with orders to set Munich aside.With even single-goal wins against Albania, in Newcastle on Wednesday, and Greece, at Old Trafford on 6 October, likely to secure top billing in Group Nine qualifying, England’s place in next summer’s World Cup finals would appear assured. Sven Goran Eriksson, however, is wary of complacency.”We must forget this win and concentrate on the next match,” said the England coach as he reflected on Saturday’s 5-1 drubbing of Germany yesterday. “It would be a small disaster to beat Germany away and then lose to Albania at home.” Catastrophic would be a more appropriate word, especially as Ukraine, with Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Belarus in Minsk, made it clear that they will not be play-off patsies. Fortunately Albania, whose 3-1 home defeat to England in March was a lot closer than the score suggested, are poor travellers. They also lost at home to Finland at the weekend.The margin of Saturday’s victory has transformed the group’s goal difference, leaving Germany four goals adrift. If England win their remaining games Germany would need to beat Finland, in Gelsenkirchen on 6 October, by at least six goals.
