England v Germany is one the most recognised fixtures in world football, and it has created it’s fair share of headlines over the years, although irritatingly most of those have been in favour of the Germans.
However, this Sunday England get the chance to level the scores up a little and send ze Germans prematurely packing to their no doubt already reserved poolside sun loungers. As the match edges closer, I thought it may be a good idea to give England fans some classic memories of matches between England and Germany, and where better to start then back in 2001?
Jermaine Defoe - Goal hero for England.In a tense match played out in Port Elizabeth this afternoon, it was England who emerged the victors against Slovenia and secured their place in the knockout stages of the World Cup in South Africa.
The final score was 1-0 to England with Jermaine Defoe (as pictured) being the goal hero on this occasion. He popped up in the penalty area to slot home a James Milner cross on 23 minutes to send the England fans into raptures. But the result only formed part of the story as the England team knew they needed to not only win the game, but to also put on a performance to appease the critics who have been queueing up to take a swipe at England since the tournament started. The England players gave that much sought after performance, and although the scoreline may not reflect the way game played out, the winning margin could and probably should have been greater than just the one goal. (more…)
Come on England!It’s a case of one last throw of the dice for England this afternoon as they take on Slovenia in Port Elizabeth.
England’s performances in the first two group games have left a lot to be desired and have attracted their fair share of criticism from fans, pundits and press, and rightly so.
But now is the time for the players to put that behind them and show England fans that they have the ability to give a decent account of themselves, and to ensure that they get the win needed to secure a place in the knockout stages of the tournament.
As ever, this is the place for everyone, of any nationality, to get involved and piss and moan about the England game, and of course, to piss and moan about the USA v Algeria game aswell, as the result of that match could come into play with regard to the fortunes of England and whether they qualify for the next round. (more…)
One last throw of the dice.It was supposed to be the easiest of passages through to the knockout stages of the World Cup for England. But in true England style, the national side have managed to make a mountain out of a mole hill and now face the very real possibility of making an embarrassingly premature exit from the World Cup at the first hurdle.
It was supposed to be a group where England built on an impressive qualifying campaign and swept three ‘weaker’ sides away to make a statement of intent to the rest of the tournament that we would be able to live up to our label of one of the favourites to win the trophy, but it hasn’t quite worked out like that.
A 1-1 draw in the opening game against the USA could have been a blip, but that blip turned into a crisis after the lacklustre 0-0 draw against Algeria last Friday left us needing to win the final game of the group against Slovenia just to ensure qualification for the knockout stages. (more…)
Simply not good enough.The picture has now become crystal clear with regards to what we must do to ensure we scrape through the group stage and into the knockout rounds of the World Cup.
To put it blunty, England must win their remaining game against current group leaders Slovenia to progrees to the next stage of the tournament, and judging by the insipid performance on offer against Algeria last night, that looks like it could be far far away from being a formality.
I apologise in advance if this turns into a bit of a rant, but aside from a few shots at goal and a couple of brief glimpses of quality from England, there really wasn’t too much to talk about. In fact the only highlight we have really is that there weren’t any, not ones to savour anyway. In fact arguably two of the biggest talking points happened after the game had finished, but I will go into that a bit later on in the article. (more…)
