SHARE
COPY LINK

FOOTBALL

Germany bury England with 4-1 victory

Germany thrashed England 4-1 in Bloemfontein, South Africa on Sunday to reach the World Cup quarter-finals after England had a goal disallowed in the first half.

Germany bury England with 4-1 victory
Photo: DPA

Germany took a 2-0 lead with goals in the first half through Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski before Matthew Upson reduced the deficit with a headed goal. The game was tighter at the start of the second half, before Germany finished it with two lethal counter-attacks that exposed England’s aged, creaking defence.

The game’s turning point came in the first half, when England should have gone in level after a Frank Lampard shot crossed the line coming down off the underside of the crossbar, only for the linesman to wave play on.

The irony was not lost on fans who remembered the controversial goal that Geoff Hurst scored in the 1966 World Cup final in London, when England won 4-2. Unlike Lampard’s strike on Sunday, video evidence has never satisfactorily made clear whether Hurst’s shot crossed the line.

Referee Jorge Larrionda’s misjudgement was all the more inexplicable because he was well-placed to see the incident. Yet, after looking across at his linesman, he waved play on.

England coach Fabio Capello said that the Lampard moment changed the game. “The Lampard incident was one of the most important in the match,” said Capello.

“The referee made one of the biggest mistakes, but Germany are a great team, we were caught out on the counter-attack. This is football. Little things make all the difference.”

The controversy over the incident will rumble on but England will also have to ask themselves some hard questions after what was, at times, a shambolic display.

Needing to attack and pushing up the field in the second half, England’s defence was shown up by two brilliant counter-attacking strikes from Thomas Müller, which finished off a struggling England.

Three-times champions Germany, whose speed and guile frequently bewildered a statuesque England backline, will now meet either Argentina or Mexico, who were facing off later Sunday in Johannesburg.

Lukas Podolski, who scored Germany’s second goal, said after the match, “I think we deserved to win. Now we have to make sure we don’t sit back like we did after the game against Australia.”

Germany’s instrumental midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger said, “I’m really proud of the team. What we did over the 90 minutes was great. We were all pitching in at the back. Of course, we were lucky with Lampard’s goal, but we played really well.”

Criticizing his own team’s performance after taking the lead, Schweinsteiger said, “We should never have let a two-goal lead slip like that.”

Germany, a youthful side just coming to the boil under coach Joachim Löw, continue their record of having reached at least the last eight in every World Cup they have competed in since 1938.

“It was fun to watch,” Löw said after the match. “We played with so much spark and vigour against a really experienced team.”

England, having come to the tournament with high expectations under the experienced Capello, will head home with their reputations in shreds ahead of the customarily savage media post-mortem.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

https://twitter.com/GravesenFumado/status/1764242481984491822

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

SHOW COMMENTS