West Germany Team

England Team

This match, arranged as a warm-up for the forthcoming European Nations Cup semi-final against Yugoslavia, proved to be a very disappointing exercise for an England team looking jaded and unenthusiastic. The Germans, who had never beaten England in their previous 12 encounters, were anxious to avenge the famous game two years ago when England became world champions.

This match, however, was a poor one played on a hot, humid and thundery day. Although both sides had key players missing, the football was tedious and even verged on the boring. There were several Union Jacks dotted around the crowd but the Brits had little to cheer.

England tried hard with Alan Ball lively throughout. Colin Bell also worked hard and their two best chances fell to Bell. On both occasions, though, the Manchester City player squandered the openings after fine prompting by Geoff Hurst. Apart from those incidents, the German goal was rarely threatened, but it must be said that the home side fared little better.

Beckenbauer looked a class above his team-mates but all too often impressive build-ups petered out on the edge of the box. Lorenz gave good support as did Vogts and Dörfel, who was very quick down the right wing, but goal-attempts were very rare at Gordon Banks's end as well.

In the end the goal that finally settled an almost forgettable match came with only nine minutes to go. Beckenbauer, who had been at the heart of most of the best German play, tried a speculative shot from 25 yards. It would have been easily covered but a wicked deflection off Brian Labone left Banks helpless and the goalkeeper watched in dismay as the ball went into the net.

The goal really summed-up the game.
  

England's unbeaten record against the Germans, which had lasted twelve matches and sixty-seven years, ended when Brian Labone deflected a Franz Beckenbauer shot wide of Gordon Banks eight minutes from the end. It was a goal that silenced the jeers of the German spectators who had been barracking their own team as England made and missed a string of chances. This was only England's third defeat in their last forty matches, and they headed for their European Nations Cup semi-final against Yugoslavia in Florence in good spirit.

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG