London: A crowd of 42,000, the highest number allowed in the stadium during the pandemic, roared with delight on England’s performance. Ever since England’s memorable World Cup victory five-and-a half decades ago, a fixture between these two sides holds special status and is awaited with much anticipation. England’s 2-0 win, the first against Germany in the knockout stage of a major tournament since 1966, puts them in the quarterfinal of Euro2020.
Gareth Southgate, England manager, said: “The players were immense right the way through the team. And the fans were behind every challenge, every time we pressed the ball, every run. The energy in the stadium was incredible. The level of performance was really important. We were playing a team with four World Cup winners. We know there have always been questions about us against big nations. We knew Germany would dictate certain parts of the game.”
He added: “We will always have passion and heart, but what pleased me most was that we played with brains. Today is a big result. These players keep writing history and we’ve got the chance again. What this group of players have been able to do is give a lot of people some very happy memories. This is another afternoon where we’ve made a bit of history. The players don’t need to feel the burden of the past. It’s a fresh outlook for them.”
England took a bit of time to settle with Germany quicker on the attack at first and looked slick. There were near misses by both sides. England did find a way in and after 16 minutes Raheem Sterling had their first chance but his firm shot after moving in from the left was tipped away by Manuel Neuer. Then a header from Harry Maguire went over the bar after a lovely cross from the right by Kalvin Phillips.
Germany too missed chances the best of which came in the 32nd minute. Kai Havertz sent Timo Werner racing through who should have scored with this great opportunity but Jordan Pickford, who has kept a clean sheet in this tournament, came out to save with his legs.
There were further wasted chances in the second half. Three minutes into it, a powerful drive from Havertz was superbly tipped over. England eventually took the lead in the 75th minute with Sterling starting and finishing the move. He passed to Harry Kane who found substitute Jack Grealish who, in turn, saw Luke Shaw overlapping on the left. Shaw’s cross was perfect for Stirling to find the net.
The best chance for Germany in the entire game came to Thomas Muller in the 81st minute. Sterling had lost the ball and Muller broke away, for a one-on-one with the England goalkeeper, but inexplicably put his shot wide of the left post and held his head in his hands in disbelief.
Five minutes later, England completed their task with the second goal. Shaw, on receiving the ball, fed Grealish on the left whose wonderful cross was headed home by the usually prolific scorer Kane, surprisingly for only his first goal of the tournament which, no doubt, brought him great relief. This was an England victory for the fans to savour.
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