USA Blamed for Latest England Germany Shootout – 8 Classic Clashes

england nazi salute, 1938, england germany

By coming top of Group C, the USA forced an epic battle between old rivals England and Germany.

The USA’s impressive first place in Group C set up an 8th major battle between England and Germany… take a look back at the most dramatic clashes over the past 100 years.

Thanks to Landon Donovan’s goal in the closing minutes of the USA match with Algeria, and Clint Dempsey’s strike against England, the latter faced bitter rivals Germany in the final 16 at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Emotions run high between these two teams, with a history stretching back though the 20th Century, with political controversy, drama, violence and tears featuring highly.

1938

England 6 – Germany 3

Friendly match at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. The England team were made to perform a Nazi salute in front of a crowd of 110,000… this was the last time England played a unified German team until the 1990s.

1966

England 4 – West Germany 2

World Cup final at Wembley and England’s finest hour. Geoff Hurst became the only man ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, securing the title for the host nation.

1970

England 2 – West Germany 3

World Cup quarter-final in Mexico. The defeat which signalled the start of two decades of dominance by the Germans over England, including being knocked out of the 1972 European Championships by a far superior West German side.

1990

England 1 – West Germany 1 (Germany win on penalties)

Italia ’90 World Cup semi-final. England struggled to match the strength of the West German team, but after Lineker equalised in the 80^th minute, the match went down to penalties. Misses from Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle put England out and Germany through to win the title.

1996

England 1 – Germany 1 (Germany win on penalties)

European Championships semi-final at Wembley. England took an early lead after a strike 3 minutes in by Alan Shearer, the top scorer at the tournament. Stefan Kuntz equalised soon after and the match went to penalties again, to the disbelief of England fans. After all 5 penalties were scored by each team, Gareth Southgate’s miss put England out again.

2001

England 5 – Germany 1

Second leg of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. After losing the first leg 1-0 in a disappointing farewell to the old Wembley, and the resulting departure of manager Kevin Keegan, England were not expected to perform well in the second leg. England surprised everyone, storming the game with a hat-trick from Michael Owen and going on to win the qualifying group.

2008

England 2 – Germany 1

International friendly match held in Berlin on November 19, 2008. Germany suffered their first defeat playing at home in Berlin for 35 years.

2010

England 1 – Germany 4

England’s heaviest defeat in World Cup history. In an astonishing flashback to the 1966 final, Frank Lampard’s shot in the 39th minute hit the crossbar, bounced behind the goal line, then back into the hands of keeper Manuel Neuer. The goal that could have brought the teams level to 2-2 at half time was disallowed, and England crumbled to the far superior German team.

By Jan Moys posted June 25, 2010 2:09 PM