England 3-3 Germany
UEFA Nations League: England vs Germany was the dead rubber in Group A3, with the Three Lions already relegated and Hungary and Italy fighting for top spot. But you would never have guessed that at Wembley on Monday night as these two European heavyweights fought to get a psychological advantage on a big rival on the way to Qatar.
After a goalless first half Germany went 2-0 up through Ilkay Gundogan and Kai Havertz and then England fought back as Luke Shaw and Mason Mount scored goals just three minutes apart. And the Three Lions thought they’d won it when Harry Kane smashed home a penalty, but Havertz bagged the leveller with just three minutes left.
Despite England’s woeful run of form the pre-match England vs Germany betting odds made the Three Lions marginal favourites and they gave it their all, but fell just short.
Highlights of the game
Newcastle keeper Nick Pope started again for England and he seems to have become the natural understudy to Jordan Pickford but, while he is probably the best catcher and shot stopper in Southgate’s goalkeeper group, Pope’s kicking needs some work. And he found himself in trouble in the 11th minute when he took a bad touch and under pressure from Jamal Musiala just managed to clear his penalty area, but when the ball fell to Ilkay Gundogan he fired over.
Defeat to Hungary on Friday ended Germany’s 13 match unbeaten run, and their hopes of progressing in the tournament, and they looked keen to make amends, dominating the play in the early stages with good possession in the England half, but without creating a clear cut chance. And it was England who had the first big opening as Raheem Sterling latched on to a brilliant through ball from Harry Kane and took a superb touch before forcing Marc-Andre Ter Stegen into a smart save low to his left.
That seemed to lift the Wembley crowd and the England team, with Declan Rice working tirelessly in the middle, began to make progress. Sterling combined well with Phil Foden but the end result was disappointing. And England finished the half strongly as Sterling brought another save from Ter Stegen.
The second half started as the first had ended with the Barcelona keeper saving from the Chelsea striker; but then a moment of madness in the England penalty area gave Germany the opening to take a lead. Musiala made his way into the box and Harry Maguire dangled a leg and once VAR had taken a look the referee pointed to the penalty spot.
Gundogan stepped up and gave Pope no chance with a slide rule shot right into the bottom corner and England had an uphill battle again.
Germany had a chance to double their lead when Musiala went on a brilliant run and fed Timo Werner but his shot flew wide. But the visitors did go 2-0 up midway through the second half when Kai Havertz hit a sublime shot into the top left corner. It was bad news for Maguire again after the move started when he lost possession in the Germany half.
England looked down and out, but they halved the deficit almost immediately when Luke Shaw finished off a move started by Jude Bellingham. It was the full back’s third international goal and he had a touch of luck as his shot squeezed in off the legs of Ter Stegen, but the Three Lions were back in it.
And how?! Just three minutes the hosts were level. Bukayo Saka slid the ball through to Mason Mount and he fired a spectacular effort into the right corner to make it 2-2. and when VAR took a look at a foul by Nico Schlotterbeck on Jude Bellingham the referee pointed to the spot again.
Kane stepped up and smashed the spot-kick high into the top left corner top send the Wembley crowd wild to make it 3-2.
But there was more to come and when Pope failed to hold on to a low shot from Serge Gnabry, Havertz was on hand to poke home the rebound.
Key statistics
The first half England vs Germany highlights are not going to go down as the best entertainment of the year but there was plenty in the second period to keep the Wembley crowd happy.
There have been only five goals in the last four meetings between England and Germany but there were six in a breathless second half tonight.
And with 14 shots to ten and eight to four on target England will believe they did enough to win.
What’s next?
England were relegated with a whimper in their defeat Italy on Friday but tonight they regained some pride.
Now they must look forward to the Qatar World Cup and a group they should really navigate without too much trouble. They open their tournament with a game against Iran, before taking on the USA and finally meeting Wales, who were also relegated from Nations League League A this week.
Germany have one more warm up game before their World Cup begins, when they will acclimatize themselves against Oman on 16th November. And then, in Qatar, they will be involved in one of the ties of the Group Stages when they meet Luis Enrique’s highly rated Spain on 27th November, with matches against Japan and Costa Rica either side of that blockbuster clash. And, of course, you can keep up with all the action from Qatar here at SBOTOP.
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