David Hytner was at the Allianz Arena tonight, and his report has landed. Here’s his verdict on a result that doesn’t lift England off the bottom of Group A3, but does keep their chances alive. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Harry Kane talks to Channel 4. “It’s a really nice feeling ... I had a couple of early chances and thought it could be one of those days ... we kept going, and played our best football in the last half hour ... it’s good to get the goal and it’s just a shame we didn’t nick it in the end ... I love scoring goals, especially for my country ... it’s good to bounce back and now we’ve got two games at home ... even going 1-0 behind, it showed good character away against a very good side ... the World Cup’s going to be here before we know it, so we have to keep doing well.”
Germany were the better side on balance, though not by any large margin. England finished strongly, with Jack Grealish making a huge difference during the closing stages. The penalty Harry Kane won was soft, but a trip’s a trip’s a trip, and Germany were left to rue not making more of their earlier dominance. England created enough themselves that a draw seems fair enough.
FULL TIME: Germany 1-1 England
Having hung on in there, England get their reward, Jack Grealish and Harry Kane combining late to snatch a draw!
90 min +3: Bellingham is down, and he wants the game stopped for some treatment. Germany press forward regardless. Eventually the attack breaks down, at which point Gareth Southgate complains vociferously to his opposite number Hansi Flick. Everyone calms down soon enough.
90 min +2: Werner dribbles into the England box from the left but can’t decide whether to shoot or cross, and does neither.
90 min +1: The first of four added minutes goes by without too much drama. In the other match in A3, Italy have beaten Hungary 2-1.
90 min: Grealish causes yet more havoc down the left and rolls a pass into the Germany box towards Kane on the penalty spot. Kane’s body shape is all wrong, and he can’t correct it to sidefoot goalwards. That would have been a superb chance had he been facing the right way.
89 min: Gundogan’s inability to release Gnabry looks very expensive now ... and what a difference Grealish has made since coming on! Kane’s now within three goals of Wayne Rooney’s all-time England record of 53. It’s more a matter of when, rather than if.
GOAL! Germany 1-1 England (Kane 88 pen)
Kane gives Neuer the eyes and sends the keeper the wrong way as he whips the penalty into the bottom left! Never in doubt! It’s 50 England goals for Kane, who has now passed Sir Bobby Charlton’s total of 49.
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Penalty for England!
87 min: There’s not much in it, but Schlotterbeck’s right foot does indeed clip Kane. The referee performs the internationally recognised mime for Television Set, points to the spot, and books Scholtterbeck. Kane’s eyes light up!
85 min: ... the ball’s worked back down the left flank to Grealish, who sends a diagonal pass towards Kane, near the penalty spot. Kane goes over. He claims he’s been clipped by Schlotterbeck. The referee’s not interested. But VAR gets involved! The referee’s called over to the monitor!
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84 min: Bowen dances his way down the inside-right channel before whipping a sensational low cross through the six-yard box. Somebody in blue surely has to trundle it home, but Klostermann somehow bundles it out for a corner. From which ...
83 min: Another change for Germany: Gundogan, who really should have put Gnabry through to score a match-clinching goal a few minutes ago, makes way for Sané.
81 min: Kane earns a corner down the left. Trippier, under fire again, this time from scrunched up bits of paper, pulls it back for Sterling, who drops a shoulder, makes some space on the edge of the box, and balloons disappointingly over the crossbar.
80 min: Saka makes way for Bowen, who gets involved immediately, barrelling down the right before running out of space, Kimmich closing him down well.
78 min: Gundogan has the chance to release Gnabry in on goal, into acres of space down the right, but hesitates and the opportunity passes. England’s defence, once again all over the shop, got away with one there.
76 min: Grealish has made a difference since coming on. He strides down the left and curls low for Kane, haring in from the other flank. Kane stretches out a leg and steers a shot across Neuer, surely to score. But the ball pings off Neuer’s hip, the goalkeeper earning his luck by making himself so big. Nothing comes of the resulting corner, and England can’t believe they’re not level!
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75 min: Muller makes way for Goretzka.
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74 min: Grealish comes again down the left. He wins a corner, which leads to some panic in the Germany box. Maguire wins a scruffy header. Neuer does extremely well to claw away from the top left with Kane challenging in the rough-house style. Germany counter, Havertz nearly releasing his Chelsea pal Werner into the box down the left. Pickford comes out to claim. There’s very little sense that this game will end without further scoring.
73 min: Jack Grealish comes on for Mason Mount. Grealish is immediately in the thick of it, waltzing down the left and flicking an insouciant pass infield for Rice, who has less time in the box than he thinks. The ball’s picked off his toe by Scholtterback, who clears.
71 min: Raum roams down the left and curls towards Muller at the far stick. Muller sidefoots powerfully towards the bottom right. Pickford sticks out a strong arm to deny the hometown hero his goal. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
70 min: Hungary have reduced their arrears against Italy, thanks to Gianluca Mancini’s 61st-minute own goal. It’s 2-1 in Cesena.
69 min: Gnabry looks for Havertz down the inside-left channel. Pickford does well to read the danger and smother at Havertz’s feet. England are suddenly hanging on a bit here. “I hate to kick a man when he’s down,” begins Martin Kerr promisingly, “but there was a very large Maguire-shaped hole in England’s back line, which Hoffman was able to stroll into and score Germany’s goal. What on earth was Maguire doing wandering out into the DM position and leaving his man free in the box?”
67 min: Gnabry is immediately involved, finding Gundogan in the box with a diagonal pass from the right. Gundogan prepares to pull the trigger only for Walker to arrive from nowhere and block for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece.
65 min: Germany make a double change. Musiala and the goalscorer Hofmann make way for Werner and Gnabry.
64 min: Germany pass it around the back awhile. They draw England forward, then Neuer plays out to his midfield with a drop of the shoulder and borderline contempt. The home side have suddenly established complete control.
62 min: It’s become scrappy, too.
61 min: The game falls a little flat.
59 min: Muller illegally checks Saka as he makes his way down the England left. A free kick. A painfully telegraphed routine sees the ball tapped right to Kane, who has his back to goal. He turns, and his shot is blocked the second it comes off his boot.
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57 min: Trippier had an apple thrown at him while taking that corner. What a vitamin-C-rich disgrace.
55 min: Mount shows again, down the inside-left channel, and his shot from a tight angle is blocked and deflected out for a corner by Schlotterback. Nothing comes of the set piece, but this is a good response to falling behind by England.
53 min: Bellingham wins possession in Germany’s half and feeds Mount, who has a lash from 25 yards. He really gets behind it, too, but Neuer extends himself fully to parry with confidence. That would have been some retort by England.
52 min: That was one heck of a finish by the Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder! Throw in his disallowed effort in the first half, and it’s fair to say Hoffman knows how to slot.
GOAL! Germany 1-0 England (Hoffman 51)
This is a sensational goal. Kimmich has Klostermann free on the right touchline. It looks like the easy, obvious pass, but instead he slips a forensic ball down the inside-right channel for Hoffman, who takes an elegant touch, turns smoothly, and lashes the ball past Pickford into the top right! Unstoppable - Pickford got a weak arm to it - and what an assist!
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49 min: Italy are 2-0 up against Hungary, incidentally. Lorenzo Pellegrini doubled the Azzurri’s lead on the stroke of half-time.
47 min: Kane tees up Walker, the best part of 30 yards from goal. Walker takes up the invitation and has a dig. Musiala blocks.
Germany get the ball rolling for the second half. No changes during the break.
Half-time change of shirts. Some additional info from Berlin resident Francis Lee: “It’s a tribute to the two-time World Cup winning German women’s team. Look a bit closer, and you’ll see the two stars (instead of the four won by the men).”
Two teams. One nation 🇩🇪
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) June 7, 2022
We're showing our support for the @DFB_Frauen at the @UEFAWomensEURO in England by wearing their kit tonight vs. @England 👕
Get yours! 👉 https://t.co/rntWCifKEb#DieMannschaft #hungriGER #GERENG pic.twitter.com/hqp0yLxnyJ
HALF TIME: Germany 0-0 England
... and that’s the end of the first 53 minutes. No goals, though paradoxically both teams have looked far more comfortable when on the attack than defending.
45 min +8: Raum crosses from the left. Havertz winds his neck back, preparing to head home from close range, only for Maguire to bash a header clear.
45 min +7: Gundogan nearly releases Klostermann down the inside right, but Trippier hooks away just in time.
45 min +6: Saka races after a long pass down the right but is gently hustled by Schlotterbeck. Saka falls over in expectation of a cheap free kick, and is piqued when he doesn’t get one. This referee is doing his best to keep things flowing.
45 min +4: Sterling looks to have run off that muscle problem, because he embarks on a graceful dribble down the middle, very nearly opening Germany up with his skill. The ball breaks right for Saka, who whips across Neuer and not a million miles wide of the left-hand post. England, having been under the cosh a little, are finishing the half strongly.
45 min +3: A free kick for England out on the left. Saka loops it long for Maguire, who isn’t going to achieve much out on the right wing.
45 min +1: In the first of eight - eight! - added minutes, Saka finds a bit of space down the right and batters a rising shot towards the top right from a tight angle. Neuer stands firm to shovel over the bar. Nothing comes of the corner.
45 min: Rice bowls Muller over, 35 yards from the England goal. Kimmich sends the resulting free kick into the mixer. Schlotterbeck heads across the face of goal from the left. Kane hacks clear, but only to Musiala, who batters a shot straight down Pickford’s throat from the edge of the box.
43 min: Walker faffs around with the ball at his feet in his own box. He tries to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick, but has it stolen from him by Havertz. Walker falls and grabs some of Havertz’s shirt ... and somehow gets the benefit of the decision! Free kick to Germany. Havertz, now in possession on the edge of the six-yard box, is stunned, the crowd incensed, understandably so. Lucky Walker.
41 min: A note on those centre-crested German jerseys from Jörn Gillys-Niemeyer: “Germany is not playing in their normal gear but wearing the women’s jerseys for the next women’s euro. That‘s why there are only two stars shown over the eagle logo on the front.” A-ha! So now I know.
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39 min: Raum again makes ground down the left and hooks infield for Muller, who slices at his shot. Pickford punches away in a panic, under intense pressure from Havertz, and eventually the flag goes up for offside. England are not looking particularly solid at the back.
37 min: Musiala plays a cute pass down the inside-left channel, releasing Raum into the England box. Raum stands one up to the far post, where Havertz rises with the intention of heading home. Trippier does extremely well to leap and block, and nothing comes of the resulting set piece.
36 min: Raum shovels a pass down the left channel for Hofmann, who reaches the byline but can’t wrap his foot around the cross. Goal kick.
35 min: Sterling is good to continue now, though he’s grimacing quite a lot and moving very gingerly. This doesn’t look particularly promising.
34 min: In the other match in group A3, Italy have taken the lead against Hungary, Nicolò Barella opening the scoring on the half hour.
33 min: Now Sterling is down, and he’s clutching the back of his right leg. Never a great sign.
32 min: It’s established that both players are good to continue.
30 min: Trippier stretches to flick a defensive header out of play, then accidentally lands on the nearby Hoffman’s heel. Another totally accidental collision, and one that’s caused both men some pain. On troop the physios again.
29 min: Musiala sees another shot blocked. Havertz flicks a header goalwards, an easy claim for Pickford. England go up the other end, Bellingham’s shot charged down by Rudiger. Kane rolls a ball across the face of goal that Sterling can’t reach. This is great fun, in the basketball style.
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27 min: Now Maguire pops up in Germany’s box, attacking Trippier’s corner from the left. His high challenge forces Neuer to fumble. The ball drops to Kane, who lashes over from six yards. A huge chance spurned, though the flag then went up, suggesting Maguire had impeded the keeper, and that the goal would not have stood.
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25 min: VAR takes an age to check the fairly obvious offside. The goal is indeed chalked off. Maguire was all over the shop there, mind you, caught the wrong side of Havertz under Klostermann’s long ball, and hauling him down. He was technically the last man, too. That may have been what VAR was pondering. Anyway, he goes unpunished.
23 min: Maguire clatters into Havertz in the centre circle, wrestling him to the floor under a high ball. Hofmann is suddenly clear on goal, haring after Klostermann’s long pass. Easy as that! Hofmann opens his body and slots powerfully into the bottom right. But the flag goes up for offside.
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22 min: The early tempo suddenly drops. Nothing going on. And then ...
20 min: Trippier takes his time over a couple of throws down the left. Smart game management, with Germany building up a head of steam.
18 min: Klostermann strides purposefully down the right. Havertz is waiting to be sprung clear down the middle. Not sure where the England defenders are, but they can be thankful to Rice, who sticks to the side of Klostermann, ensuring the pass to release Havertz is never on.
17 min: Rice’s weak backpass is only just hacked clear by Pickford. Havertz returns the ball down the right for Hofmann, who crosses low towards the near post. Musiala can’t quite connect while sliding in, and Pickford claims in a slightly scrappy fashion. England aren’t coping well with Germany’s press.
15 min: A long pass raked down the Germany left. Walker gets enough on his header back to Pickford ... just. Raum was lurking just behind him, ready to pounce.
14 min: Phillips can’t continue, and he’s replaced by Bellingham. What rotten luck the Leeds midfielder has had with injuries this season.
13 min: Phillips goes down again. The whistle goes to stop play. As the whistle sounds, Muller latches onto a long throw down the left and loops over the stranded Pickford and into the empty net. He celebrates a goal, and is suitably furious when he realises it won’t count.
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12 min: Phillips comes back on. He’s not moving particularly smoothly, though.
11 min: England are down to ten for now, as further checks are run on Phillips. Musiala has a dig from the edge of the box. He claims the ball has hit Rice on the arm. He might even be correct, but the players were so close together, he’s not getting the penalty he wants.
10 min: Phillips gets up and limps towards the touchline. He shakes his head sadly. This doesn’t look great.
9 min: Schlotterbeck comes striding out from the back in Beckenbauerian fashion, and clips a pass wide right for Muller. As he does it, he clatters into Phillips. Or perhaps Phillips clatters into him. Either way, it’s accidental, but the England midfielder has come off worse. Play is stopped and the physio comes on.
7 min: The ball’s worked back to Kane, who lets rip towards the top right. Neuer is behind it all the way. A good response from England.
6 min: Muller is robbed by Phillips on the left touchline. He wants the foul, but he’s not getting it. Sterling is sent into space down the inside-left channel, and his shot-cum-cross is deflected out for a corner.
5 min: Some good work by Rice down the left. The ball finds Mount, just to the side of the German box. He’s got a little bit of time, but doesn’t risk a cross, instead playing the ball back up the flank and retaining possession. Admirably patient, or overly conservative?
3 min: Rudiger flicks the corner on at the near post. Muller prepares to trundle home, like his namesake Gerd, at the far post. Before he can do so, Walker does extremely well to flick out for another corner. Nothing comes of the second one. Fast start by Germany, though, and a very shaky one by England.
2 min: Havertz takes a whack at Pickford from distance. Pickford claims easily enough, but upon setting England off on the attack, Tripper carelessly concedes the first corner of the match. Kimmich will take from the right.
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Both sets of players take the knee to warm applause from all four corners of the stadium ... then England, in blue, get the ball rolling! Germany wear a new strip with centred crest. They’ll never beat this one.
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The teams are out, and they’re caterwauling their way through their respective national anthems. Some whistling from the away section when the vastly more tuneful German ditty is played. How rude. For goodness sake. But never mind that! “You mentioned the 5-1,” begins Andreas Kungl. “Whenever that happens, I remember an article from your very own Marina Hyde, just before Bloemfontein. Maybe you would care to reference in the buildup of the MBM.” Your wish is my command, Andreas. Enjoy, enjoy. We’ll be off in a minute.
Gareth Southgate speaks to Channel 4. “The preference we had for this game was earmarked anyway. We had to get some of the players through the first game and rest some, so they were fully sharp for tonight. This is the best way to go for tonight’s game. Raheem Sterling is hugely important. He’s ready. They’re all ready. His levels of performance and important goals, he’s really come alive in an England shirt. He’s a massive part of what we do. Germany are one of the benchmarks for me, they’ve consistently delivered in major tournaments, so we have to follow up what we did last summer by coming into their home ground and putting on that sort of performance.”
As for Germany’s willingness to take a knee with England before kick-off, he adds: “Both nations have vastly multi-cultural populations, and both have had issues with that. So we’re united on that, we stand together on that, and it’s an important show of camaraderie.”
Germany will be wearing their famous white shirts with black trim. That means England will be in this lovely blue number. Harry Kane will hand over an almost insultingly dull pennant, designed to strict that’ll-do specifications by the famous creative agency Boots On Desk. By way of contrast, the captain’s armband, which celebrates Pride Month, is a soothing balm for sore eyes.
No staging of this fixture is allowed to pass by without mention of that 5-1 win in 2001. How did Guardian Unlimited Football, as we styled ourselves back then, mark the occasion? Well, kids, in the days before David Squires, another cartoon genius roamed the earth, and he was called Ormondroyd ...
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England make five changes to the starting XI selected for the Hungary defeat. Kieran Trippier, John Stones, Bukayo Saka, Kalvin Phillips and Raheem Sterling, winning his 75th cap, replace James Justin, Conor Coady, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jude Bellingham and Jarrod Bowen. All drop to the bench except for the injured Justin. Marc Guéhi returns to the squad.
Germany make seven changes to the side named for the draw in Italy. David Raum, Lukas Klostermann, Nico Schlotterbeck, Jonas Hofmann, Ilkay Gundogan, Kai Havertz and former England youth international Jamal Musiala step up; Thilo Kehrer, Niklas Süle, Benjamin Henrichs, Leon Goretzka, Timo Werner, Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sané step down.
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The teams
Our XI vs. @England 🇩🇪🏴#DieMannschaft #GERENG pic.twitter.com/sjWEKCymKV
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) June 7, 2022
Ready to take on Germany! 💪 pic.twitter.com/7gos0L0DeP
— England (@England) June 7, 2022
Preamble
The last time these two great rivals met – one year ago, give or take a couple of weeks – England pulled off one of the most memorable victories in their history. Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane scored late goals at Wembley in a round-of-16 victory during Euro 2020, a joyous occasion that gave Gareth Southgate’s team the belief to make it all the way to the final. But they were facing a different Germany last June. Joachim Löw’s side had been beaten in the groups by France and held by Hungary; now Hansi Flick’s team are nine unbeaten, having just held the Netherlands and Italy to draws away from home, Mannschaft momentum well and truly restored.
England by contrast were flying back then, having just won eight in nine, confidence coursing through their veins, the dream of becoming European champions spurring them on. Now they’ve just come off a dismal 1-0 defeat in Hungary, and are to a man completely knackered at the end of a long, seemingly never-ending season. They’ll need to regroup tonight in Munich, else they’ll find themselves behind the eight-ball in Nations League A3 a mere four days after the get-go. A year – give or take a couple of weeks – is a long time in football. Kick off at the Allianz Arena is at 7.45pm BST. It’s on!
