Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A RIVALRY LIKE NO OTHER
England v Germany has always been special, bringing pain and glory to both proud nations
THE rivalry is long-standing and intense.
Down the decades, England and Germany have provided compelling games, plenty of joy and some bitter disappointments – for both teams!
The ultimate high for England came on July 30, 1966 when Alf Ramsey’s team beat the then West Germany to win the World Cup.
The low points? There have been plenty. The England squad Ramsey took to defend the World Cup at the 1970 finals in Mexico was stronger than our heroes of ’66.
After leading 2-0 in the quarter-final against West Germany, Ramsey substituted key man Bobby Charlton. England lost 3-2 in Charlton’s last game for the Three Lions.
Charlton recalled: “I was distraught. I’d felt OK when I was substituted (below, with Ramsey). I wasn’t tired, I felt full of running. Sir Alf thought we were going to make it through to the semis, so I might need a rest.
“I had to watch them beat us while sitting on the bench, which was dreadful. I didn’t realise it would be my last England game, but Sir Alf told me that, by the 1974 tournament, I would be 38 and he couldn’t expect me to play, so ‘thank you’ and that was it.”
Paul Gascoigne ended up a national hero, despite being on the losing side in the 1990 World Cup semi-final against Germany in Turin. In that game, he received a yellow card that would have ruled him out of the final.
Terry Butcher, England skipper that day, remembered: “It was devastating for Gazza (with Butcher, far right), a player whose emotions were never far away.”
Another maverick midfielder, Alan Hudson, inspired England’s 2-0 win over West Germany at
Wembley in 1975, outplaying legends Frank Beckenbauer and Rainer Bonhof, but rows with England boss Don Revie ensured he won only two caps.
England’s most memorable away win came in 2001 when a Michael Owen hat-trick helped to thrash the Germans
5-1 in Munich during a 2002
World Cup qualifier.
But the Germans got their revenge with a 4-1 drubbing in the 2010 South Africa World
Cup – which also saw Frank
Lampard’s “goal” that never was.