England captain John Terry's header six minutes from time sealed a 2-1 win over Germany in Wednesday's friendly at Berlin's Olympic Stadium as Fabio Capello's weakened team beat the Euro 2008 runners-up.
A first-half goal by West Ham's Matthew Upson was cancelled out by Bayer Leverkusen Patrick Helmes' second-half equaliser following a mix-up in the England defence before Terry headed the winner in the closing stages.
It was England who scored first when they were rewarded for an early piece of pressure. Their second corner in quick succession was swung in and Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler looked to have been hindered by Jermain Defoe as he went to punch the ball clear. In the resulting scramble, Upson was the sharpest to react and stabbed the ball home on 23 minutes to put the visitors ahead as England controlled the first half with Germany's attack rarely threatening.
Both England and Germany made changes during half-time to their squad. The changes worked in Germany's favour as a horrible mix-up in the England defence between Terry and West Bromwich Albion shot-stopper Carson saw the ball bobble to Helmes who fired into an empty net on 63 minutes to equalise. But Terry rectified the situation with time running out when he rose higher than his marker Heiko Westermann to header past Wiese to give England the winner.
German coach Joachim Löw has nominated three newcomers to the line-up for Wednesday’s football classic against England. For the first time, defender Marvin Compper and midfielder Tobias Weis of 1899 Hoffenheim as well as Marcel Schäfer of VfL Wolfsburg received an invitation to the “Mannschaft”. Löw made his 20-player-roster for Wednesday’s game in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium public last week.
“This last game of the calendar year offers us an opportunity to try out some new things, to show some new wrinkles. All three novices earned their starts due to their recent performances in the Bundesliga”, said Löw.
Because of their injury status, several players usually indispensable components on the team were left off the list. Michael Ballack from FC Chelsea was not called-upon as well as Philipp Lahm (Bayern München), Clemens Fritz and Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Marcell Jansen (Hamburger Sport Verein) and Christian Pander (Schalke 04).
Nevertheless, Ballack, Frings and Lahm will travel to the German capital on Monday. As all three players represent the team counsel, they will participate in the scheduled negotiations with DFB President Dr. Theo Zwanziger and General Secretary Wolfgang Niersbach on the bonus payments for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying round.
The German coach has also announced that he intends to address the team about his expectations for the upcoming games on the road to South Africa.
In their last match of the year 2008, Germany host England on Wednesday in Berlin in an international friendly. The match will be played in the Olympic stadium and starts at 8.45 p.m CET.
It will be the 31st match-up between the Mannschaft and the Three Lions. England is one of the few teams that Germany has lost to more often than it has won. The British team won 14 matches and Germany only ten. The other matches ended in draws.
Nevertheless, Germany won the last encounter in London 2-1, when both teams met to mark the inauguration of the new Wembley stadium on August, 22nd 2007. Then, Kevin Kuranyi and Christian Pander scored for Germany. Germany also won the last match at the old Wembley stadium 1-0 in October 2007, before the iconic stadium was closed for its rebuilding.
Here are highlights from that game:
However, who can forget the last time Germany played at home against England in Munich? In the 2002 World Cup qualifier, Germany were soundly beaten 5-1 at the Olympic Stadium.
In case you've forgotten, here's a painful reminder of what happened back in 2001:
The last time they played in Berlin was in a 1972 European Championship quarter-final second leg, which ended goalless with West Germany going through 3-1 on aggregate to the four-team tournament, which they won.
With the long standing rivalry between these two great footballing nations, this game will probably be anything but 'friendly'. It certainly is an interesting game to look forward to indeed! Stay tuned for all the latest news and results from the game right here at German Football Team blog!
