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England vs. Germany
After England's three pre-war meetings
with Germany, it would be over half a century before a re-unified Germany
was ready to face England again. Their pre-war encounters had seen the home
side wearing their change colours on each occasion. For England, this was a
blue shirt at White Hart Lane in 1935, whilst Germany wore red in the two
Berlin games, including the infamous 1938 fixture when the England team gave
the Nazi salute.
One curious fact, was that England's
goalkeeper, Harry Hibbs appears to be wearing a green jersey in the first
meeting. It is certainly darker than the more familiar yellow, though we have
only black and white film to go on.
After the war, there were
sixteen
meetings between England and West Germany, with
England wearing red shirts in eleven of them and the
West Germans wearing green shirts in the other five.
In 1991, the re-unified German
team, as in the previous three visits of West
Germany to Wembley, donned a green change uniform.
This was the reverse design of the adidas kit worn
by West Germany in winning the World Cup, the
previous year, with the colours of the German flag
(black, red and amber) emblazoned in a flash across
the arms and chest.
Two years later, they met in the
Pontiac Silverdome, in Detroit, England's first
indoor international, in the final match of the US
Cup tournament. England were wearing their surnames
in white across the back of their red shirts and
Nigel Martyn became the first goalkeeper to wear
blue against the Germans, who won 2-1, to lift the
trophy. The colours of the German flag were now only
visible on the arms of the adidas shirt.
England broke with tradition for
their next encounter, in the semi-finals of the 1996
European Championship. This was another painful
experience for the home side, and their
all-grey/indigo blue uniform will forever be
associated with the defeat on penalties. David
Seaman, meanwhile, could hardly fade into the
background with his bright red, yellow and green
plumage.
Euro 2000 not only saw England
beat Germany for the first time in a major
tournament since 1966, but it was also the first,
and so far, only occasion when both sides have worn
their change colours; Germany wearing an all-green
uniform for the first time.
Four months later, for the old
Wembley's last fixture, Kevin Keegan tried to invoke
the spirit of 1966, by decking England out in red
again, but a miserable day was sealed by Dietmar
Hamann's historic winner. What revenge was inflicted
by England, the following year, though! A stunning
5-1 victory in München, with
Michael Owen netting a hat-trick and England back in
white shirts against Germany, for the first time in
ten years and for the first time in Germany, since
1938. This was the popular 2001 shirt with the red
stripe down the left side.
They did not meet again until the
new stadium was opened in 2007. Germany had turned
full circle and reverted back to red shirts not seen
since the war, or rather, a modern equivalent, with
one black sleeve, as per the new trend.
Germany were
victorious at Wembley, but England reversed the 2-1
scoreline in Berlin in 2008, in their own red
shirts.
England
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