Match Summary

England Team

Germany Team

    Match Report by Mike Payne

If England could have chosen the first team to beat them at their new stadium then Germany would probably have been bottom of the list, but alas it is Germany who will forever hold that "honour", just as they had been the last country to win at the old Wembley. 

A poor performance by the home side gifted the Germans a victory although it must be said the visitors looked far superior in many aspects of the game.  England began quite well, passing the ball around crisply and with purpose, and Joe Cole was particularly sharp down the left.  On the other side of the pitch Micah Richards continued with his attacking play down the right flank and after just nine minutes the Manchester City player was instrumental in England opening the scoring.  He powered his way past Christian Pander before cleverly flicking the ball inside to Frank Lampard.  With aid of a slight deflection Lampard's shot beat Jens Lehmann at his near post and England were one up.  It was good to see Lampard back on the scoresheet again after a year long lean spell.

As with many earlier German teams the goal did not unduly ruffle them.  In fact they started to take control with some close passing and good possession football.  Having said that it was a bad error from Paul Robinson that was to give them a way back into the game.  Bernd Scneider's cross really should have been dealt with by the goalkeeper but Robinson's positioning and footwork was all wrong and in the end he had to claw the ball out from under his crossbar.  He could only flap at it and Kevin Kuranyi sensed blood and swept the loose ball home from close range.  It was a bad mistake by Robinson, not his first recently, and he almost conceded another goal when he completely misjudged another cross from the right, this time from Piotr Trochowski.  Luckily Christoph Metzelder missed the chance.

With typical German precision though the visitors had now assumed control and with just five minutes to go before the break they took the lead.  This time Robinson had no chance as Pander fired in a tremendous 30 yard left-foot drive which no goalkeeper in the world would have saved.  Lehmann saved with his legs from Lampard and there was still time for Michael Owen to have two half chances before the interval.  Lehmann made an excellent save from the first but then almost gave England an equaliser when he fumbled Alan Smith's flick, but the angle was just too tight for Owen to squeeze the rebound home.

Two substitutions for England at half-time and four more over the third quarter of the match compounded the disjointed attempts by the home side to push forward in search of an equaliser.  Peter Crouch, Kieron Dyer and Shaun Wright-Phillips did add a little more zest to England's play, but the Germans defended as they usually do, with steel and efficiency.  Chances were created though and Dyer should have done better with a side-foot chance after David Beckham set him up, but the ball flew wide.  Lampard also fluffed a shot when well placed and the nearest that England came to scoring in this half was when Gareth Barry saw his header cleared off the line by Phillip Lahm.

The match ended in disappointment for the 86,000 present and the many people watching on television.  Friendly or not, it would have been a nice boost for everyone if we could have beaten the old enemy, and it would have given England the confidence to go into the upcoming European Championship games on a high.  Alas it was not to be.