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First Round
England
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Germany
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England against
Germany over 90 minutes, with no extra time or
penalty shoot-out. Who will crack first? Please no stalemate.
Although England didn't lose to Germany in
their last two encounters over ninety minutes (Italia 90 and Euro 96), they did go out to
them on penalties after extra-time. So yes, Germany did win and maybe now it's England's
turn.
That's the game plan in the English camp at
least, but in reality it's not about whose turn it is but who plays best or who has the
element of luck on the day -- or in this case, on the night. I would rather not count on
lady luck either (especially as Collina has a whistle in one hand and a red card in the
other), so that leaves England needing to play better than the Germans if they want to
win. Can they do it?
Germany will be without their
captain, Oliver Bierhoff, just as the AC Milan striker felt he was on target to do some
damage to England. It was Bierhoff who scored the winner in the Euro96 final against the
Czech Republic, at Wembly. Carston Jancker takes his place alongside Ulf Kirsten.
Lothar Matthaeus is not pensioned off just yet
and Dietmar Hamann's experience at Liverpool should be useful for the Germans.
After losing a two-goal lead against Portugal,
England will need strong character if they do manage to go in front against the Germans;
to avoid squandering such an advantage again. The Germans are quite comfortable about
passing the ball around in their own half and making England come for it, then catching
them flat-footed; although they carelessly lost a lot of possession against the Romanians
in the second half.
Winning this game will not make up for the
defeats in 1990 or 1996, but it may make up for the loss against Portugal. In group A of
Euro2000, that should be the most important thing on England's mind.
England Team:
1-David Seaman
2-Gary Neville, 6-Martin Keown, 4-Sol Campbell, 3-Phil Neville
7-David Beckham, 14-Paul Ince, 8-Paul Scholes, 17-Dennis Wise
9-Alan Shearer, 10-Michael Owen.
Germany Team:
1-Oliver Kahn
2-Markus Babbel, 20-Lothar Matthaeus, 6-Jens Novotny, 18-Sebastian Deisler
17-Christian Ziege, 14-Dietmar Hamann, 16-Jens Jeremies, 7-Mehmet Scholl
19-Carsten Jancker, 9-Ulf Kirsten
Referee: Pierluigi Collina
(Ita)
England 1 -- Germany 0
Stade Communal, Charleroi
Not since the memorable World Cup final of 1966 have
England managed to beat Germany in a competitive match, having been dumped out of two
semi-finals after penalty shoot-outs.
On this historic occasion, enjoy the minute by minute
report.
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