England, in front of a full house (and again the 100,000 crowd broke the receipts record by paying £51,716), entertained West Germany at Wembley. The Germans, who were now World Champions thanks to their memorable win over Hungary in the summer of 1954, had never won in England and again they went home empty-handed. The Germans fielded only three players that had appeared in the World Cup Final, but none the less still proved formidable opposition.

The heavy storms of the previous few days had given way to a lovely sunny, cloudless sky. The Wembley surface was pretty sodden but the ball playing forwards of England revelled in the conditions. Nobody more so than the evergreen Stanley Matthews. He was once again superb. It was hard to imagine that when he made his debut against Germany in 1935, the current German centre-forward, Uwe Seeler, had not even been born.

England were quickly into their stride and Kerkenrath was soon in action. Time and time again he denied England with thrilling saves. Twice Tom Finney had shots blocked and Ronnie Allen also saw the same fate befall two of his efforts.

Finally, though, the pressure told. In the 27th minute more good work by the lively Allen set Matthews on his way. When the winger's centre reached the far post, Roy Bentley carried on where he had left off against Wales by scoring with another fine header.

Play was almost totally confined to the German half. Liebrich was outstanding, as he was in that memorable Final against Hungary, and it was solely due to him that the Germans were held together. Bert Williams was called upon to make a superb point-blank save from Seeler, but generally the English 'keeper was merely a spectator for long spells. With Len Phillips and Len Shackleton showing up very well, England continued with their forceful play until half-time and the measure of their lead did them no justice at all.

Deservedly, within three minutes of the restart, England went 2-0 ahead. Shackleton chipped a lovely ball over the German defence for Finney to run on to. Again his run was blocked by Herkenrath's brave dive but this time the ball ran loose for Allen to follow up and score. At this stage England's wingers were outstanding. Matthews once again carved trails of wreckage down the right flank and set up chance after chance. Finney, meanwhile, preferred to cut inside to create havoc. Unfortunately, England failed to capitalise on their superiority. They should have had many goals as the new-look German line-up understandably lacked cohesion.

Shackleton produced one dazzling moment when he set off on a tremendous dribble that took him through the whole German defence, bringing the crowd to its feet. He then dribbled around Herkenrath, only to push the ball too far forward at the vital moment and it ran out of play. It would have been a stupendous goal; as it was, it still brought a huge roar of approval from the spectators.

England, by now, were coasting. Their play became sloppy due to their dominance and the Germans, typically, made them pay for their casualness by suddenly pulling a goal back. Only 15 minutes remained when Seeler, who for once beat the majestic Billy Wright, passed the ball to Beck, who calmly beat Williams with a low shot.

This succeeded in waking England up again and although for a few seconds Germany threatened, the match was finally settled in the 80th minute. A brilliant reverse pass by Allen gave Shackleton a half-chance and as Herkenrath came to challenge, the Sunderland star produced the perfect chip to score a delightful third goal. Other chances were missed by England in the remaining minutes and Matthews continued, to the end, to be the scourge of the German defenders.
  

The 100,000 crowd for this Wednesday afternoon match against the world champions broke the Wembley receipts record by paying £51,716 to watch a classic encounter. With Stanley Matthews running the German defenders into dizzy disarray, England took the lead in the twenty-seventh minute when Roy Bentley headed in a pin-pointed centre from the Maestro. Ronnie Allen made it 2-0 three minutes after half-time following neat combination work between Finney and Len Shackleton. The Germans pulled back to 2-1 through Beck before Shackleton, the Clown Prince, clinched a memorable victory in the eightieth minute with an impudent chip shot as the goalkeeper came racing towards him. Shack had thrilled the crowd throughout the match with his tricks, but he was too much an individualist for the taste of the selectors and never played for England again after a paltry five caps. It remains a mystery to many people why Len Shackleton did not win a cupboardful of caps. He just refused to conform. Shack upset the selectors with a book published in 1955 in which a chapter headed 'The Average Director's Knowledge of Football' was left completely blank. Most of the England selectors were club directors. With his ability, he should have won dozens of caps but he just could not bring himself to toe the line. At least he could say he went out at the very top, because his brilliant goal made sure that England toppled the new world champions. The Germans included only three of the team that won the trophy in Switzerland as they started rebuilding ready for their defence of the World Cup in 1958.

Len Shackleton became a respected football writer after his retirement, and reminiscing in the press box one day he regaled colleagues with this story that captures the times in which he played: "After scoring what I considered one of my finest ever goals to help England beat world champions Germany at Wembley, I was handed a third-class rail ticket for the overnight sleeper back to Sunderland. I said to the Bowler Hat handing me the ticket, 'Couldn't you raise enough money for a first-class ticket?' The FA official said that all the first-class tickets had been sold. When I got to King's Cross I had no trouble transferring to first-class because there was plenty of space, and I was happy to pay the five pounds difference out of my own pocket. By the time I'd paid tax and expenses, I was left with just £20 out of my £50 match fee. The Wembley receipts for the match were over £50,000, but we footballers who had drawn the crowd and the money were considered third-class citizens by those blinkered fools who ran the Football Association."
 

West Germany had won the World Cup five months earlier with a surprise victory over the mighty Hungarians in Berne but only three members of their winning team were to play at Wembley.
England had reached the quarter-finals where they lost to Uruguay in Basle. This was the first meeting between England and West Germany. They had met a united Germany three times before the war.
The red-shirted England side took the lead after 27 minutes. Matthews crossed and Roy Bentley headed in at the far post. They increased their lead just after half-time.
Herkenrath saved at the feet of Finney but Ronnie Allen scored from the rebound. Seeler provided Alfred Beck with a pass and he shot past Williams to reduce the arrears with a quarter of an hour left. But then Allen passed to Len Shackleton, who drew Heckenrath before delivering an exquisite chip over the 'keeper's head and into the net.
England won by the same scoreline in Berlin in 1956. West Germany finished fourth in their defence of the World Cup in 1958 in Sweden and had lost to England again by the time they returned to England in 1956.
   

Some signs that England was gradually building a new team were confirmed when an almost unchanged eleven beat Germany at Wembley even more comfortably than the score of 3-1 suggests. A little more enthusiasm, determination and good fortune in the German penalty-area and the score might easily have been doubled. Except for a few minutes in the second half when the score was 2-1 in our favour, the result was never in doubt, and the team as a whole showed a confidence which had been sadly lacking in its previous games. The only goal of the first half resulted from an old trick. England was awarded a free-kick; Allen ran up and pretended to take it but jumped over the ball instead; Shackleton's shot rebounded to Matthews; a quick centre to Bentley and the ball was nodded accurately into the net. Immediately after half-time Finney made a grand run and although Herkenrath pluckily parried his shot, Allen was on hand to make it 2-0 for England. For a few minutes after Beck had scored a good goal for Germany England ceased to dominate the game, but a confidence bordering on complacency was restored when Shackleton made the result safe by scoring with a perfect lob after a typically cool dribble up to the goalscorer.