GHOST BUSTERS
Joy as Lions end 55-year German jinx
HARRY KANE wrapped up an historic win against Germany to the delight of Wembley and told the fans: “We delivered.”
Raheem Sterling opened the scoring and the Three Lions skipper sealed a first knockout victory over the Germans in a major tournament for 55 years to secure a place for England against Ukraine in Saturday’s Euros quarter-final in Rome.
“All the pressure was on, all the expectation and we delivered,” said Kane. “So we should be
proud of that. It’s an amazing day, an amazing game.
“To hearWembley like this was just a moment none of us will ever forget.
“It was a great performance, just the perfect afternoon.We’ll enjoy this one, but of course we know we’ve got another big one on Saturday now.
“The bottom line is we don’t want to stop here.We’ve got a vision of where we want to go as a team, as a group of players and as a coaching staff so we’re not done yet.
“We’ve loved every second of it and hopefully we’ll be back here for the semi-finals and final.”
Certainly that was the uncompromising message of manager Gareth Southgate, whose controversial decision to change to a back three paid dividends.
“If we don’t go and capitalise on that on Saturday now, then it doesn’t count for anything,” he said.
“You know that when you change the shape, you pick certain personnel instead of others – if it goes wrong, you’re dead.
“But I just thought it was a brilliant afternoon.
“We’ve talked about bringing enjoyment to the nation and afternoons like this is what that’s about.
“The players were absolutely immense, right the way through the team and the fans were as well.
“It was only 40,000, but it was as good an atmosphere at Wembley that I can remember.”
A glaring miss by Thomas Muller moments after Sterling’s goal paved the way for Kane to clinch victory.
For Germany manager Joachim Low, who led his country to World Cup glory in 2014, it was a disappointing end to 15 years as national team manager.
“We didn’t take opportunities – the two great chances we had with Thomas Muller and Timo Werner,” he said.
“You need to take advantage of them if you want to succeed.
“The English team did that. We were not clinical enough or effective enough.”