Match Summary

Germany Team

England Team

What an exhilarating football match this friendly against our arch-rivals, and current World Champions turned out to be!  Right from the start the England players were full of confidence and pressed the Germans to a point where they were not comfortable at all.  To see a German side constantly give the ball away during spells of England dominance was a joy for all England fans, and it was all down to the terrific work-rate of this young England team.

In the first chance for the visitors Gary Cahill's header from a corner went wide and shortly afterwards a Danny Rose run and cross just eluded Deli Alli as the ball flew across goal.  It was a promising start by England, but Germany quickly, and typically, responded with Mario Gomez heading wide, Jack Butland punching away when danger threatened, and Marco Reus shooting wide.  Alli was in the thick of things and his play was outstanding, this 19-year-old was pulling many of the strings in midfield and on 15 minutes he hit a terrific shot just over the bar.  England were closing the Germans down well and Alli almost sent Kane through on goal with a fine pass.  After 20 minutes the Germans had one of their good spells as they probed around the England defensive set-up.  There was a narrow squeak for England when Gomez netted with a good shot, only for a very late linesman's flag to rule out the goal for a tight offside decision.

Some of the German late challenges went unpunished and Alli, Adam Lallana and especially Danny Welbeck were all brought down with cynical fouls.  It was certainly a sign that the Germans were rattled though and all good news for England.

On 37 minutes England should have taken the lead.  Great work by Harry Kane, as he worked the ball to Welbeck, but the Arsenal player was too slow in making his mind up to shoot, but as the ball was taken off his feet it ran loose to Lallana who shot over when it seemed easier to score.  The Germans were still struggling to make any impact and Liverpool's Emre Can was finally booked after his umpteenth foul.  On 40 minutes another Rose cross was only just cleared from the eager England forwards.

With two minutes of the half remaining the inevitable happened.  Butland had obviously done something to his ankle when gathering a ball, but after he kicked clear the Germans put in a strong attack which left Toni Kroos attacking down the inside-left channel.  For once England were slow to close him down and he just let fly from 25 yards, spotting that Butland was struggling.  Nine times out of ten the goalkeeper would have saved the shot, albeit a good one, but this time the ball beat him at the near post.  Butland's injury was treated but he had to leave the field on a stretcher, a sad way for his big chance to end.  The goal gave the Germans a lift and the remainder of the half was a bit fraught for the England defence, especially with replacement Fraser Forster trying to find his feet.  The half-time score was a travesty for England and they could consider themselves unlucky to be one down at the break.

There was a certain arrogance about the early second-half play by the Germans as they strutted their stuff, with possession and pressing being the order of their game.  England started to give away some needless free-kicks and a centre from Reus bounced high and needed a tip-over from Forster.

The match started to become a bit more stretched as play swung from end to end.  England tried hard to continue with the attacking mentality of their earlier dominance and Manuel Neuer made a fine diving save from another Alli effort.  The excitement continued and Kane was so nearly through, again from Alli's prompting.  On 55 minutes England were so unlucky not to equalise as Welbeck chased down a lost cause, gained possession and teed up Jordan Henderson.  He seemed certain to score but the ball clipped a defender and flew over the top.  Two minutes later and it was disaster for England.  Poor defending allowed Gomez a free header, and this time Forster was well beaten.  Both Cahill and Nathaniel Clyne were at fault for the goal but seeing a scoreline of 2-0 to Germany at that time seemed ridiculously unfair on England, who had played very well.  It made what happened next all the more remarkable.

England were really up against it now and for a short spell Germany dominated, but on the hour mark England gave themselves a lifeline with a magnificent goal from Kane.  A corner was half-cleared by Germany but Kane gathered possession moving away from goal.  A superb turn took out two German defenders and Kane doesn't need any prompting to shoot, his fierce cross-shot beating Neuer all ends up as it went in off the far post.  The goal lifted England for the last quarter of the match and the pace and excitement continued.  Alli so nearly scored the goal his play deserved when, after a fine passing move, he hit a low shot which Neuer blocked with his outstretched left foot.  England then made two substitutions as Jamie Vardy and Ross Barkley came on for Welbeck and Lallana.  It was to make a memorable difference.

Just four minutes after coming on the Leicester front man scored his first goal for England, and what a stunner it was.  Barkley sent Clyne scampering down the right at pace and when his cross came in Vardy nipped in front of the defender to score with a wonderful backheel that again gave Neuer no chance.

Rose made one superb tackle as Germany tried to come back, and the full-back can be very pleased with his debut.  On the other side Clyne, too, had played well, and yet another good run and cross gave England another corner.  Eric Dier was booked as the action became fast and furious and then on 84 minutes came the miss of the match.  The ever-alert Vardy spotted that a casual pass out from Neuer was not going to reach its target, and in he darted to gain possession before teeing up Alli for what seemed a certain goal.  To the Tottenham player's obvious anguish, and to every England fan's too, Alli hit his shot too high!  What a let-off for the Germans that was, but was it the end?  Not likely.

With Germany and England both pushing for a winner, the clock ticked past 90 minutes.  England won a corner in the first of the extra added on minutes and Henderson's cross to the near post was met majestically by Dier who crashed a header past the static Neuer.  The comeback was complete!

This was a superb international match that had everything.  England performed so well throughout and they thoroughly deserved their victory.  The Germans were stunned at the end and although they will obviously be a force, as usual, at the Euro finals, this has given England so much confidence to take forward.  I suppose we must not get too carried away, but I'm afraid I can't help it!  This was a wonderful night for English football and to see the arrogance wiped off the German faces for once was a joy for all committed England fans.  "They don't like it up 'em, Captain Mainwaring!"