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Germany 1 England 5 World Cup football home page Jancker 6 Owen 13, 48, 66 Gerrard 45 Heskey 74 ___________________________________________________ This important World Cup qualification group match took place on September 1, 2001 in Munich. England knew that they needed to beat Germany to have a chance of qualifying top of the group and a loss would have ensured that Germany finished top of the group (with England not by any means certain of a play off place). The England team was: Seaman G Neville Ferdinand Campbell Ashley Cole Beckham Gerrard Scholes Barmby (Hargreaves 78) (Carragher 83) (McManaman 65) Owen Heskey Subs not used: Martyn, Southgate, Fowler, Andy Cole Germany: Kahn, Rehmer, Worns (Asamoah 46), Nowotny, Linke, Boehme, Hamman, Deisler, Ballack (Klose 67), Jancker, Neuville (Kehl 78) This was probably one of England's greatest games, especially seeing as it was an important competitive match - England's dominance in the second half was magnificent and the team that played have effectively booked their places for the World Cup 2002 (apart from for injury). Germany had beaten England 1-0 at Wembley the previous year and were considered almost undefeatable at home. They had previously only ever lost once at home before. After 6 minutes of the game, however, England fans were fearing the worse as Germany scored. Deisler attacked and passed to Neuville who headed to Jancker splitting the England defence - he easily beat Seaman from close range and Germany were 1-0 up.   Neville heads the ball back into the box Owen fires it home (1-1) England did not have to wait long before they equalised, on 13 minutes. Beckham (looking fully recovered from his recent injury) misdirected a free kick which was collected by Gerrard who looped ball back across the box and out to Neville. Neville headed it back into the box to Barmby who headed it across to Owen - the ball bounced and Owen fired it home.  Gerrard strikes Germany came back into the game with Neuville sending a shot wide and Seaman saving a good attempt from Boehme. Deisler had a good chance to score for Germany but messed up his shot when in the clear. Deep into injury time in the first half, however, England were 2-1 up. A Beckham cross was nodded back by Ferdinand standing inside the penalty area and Gerrard drove an excellent low shot into the goal from 25 yards out.  Gerrards strike goes into the net (2-1) 3 minutes into the second half and England scored again to make it 3-1.  Owen strikes from a fairly acute angle to make it 3-1 Beckham crossed to Heskey who headed the ball to Owen in space. Kahn almost saved Owen's shot from a fairly acute angle inside the penalty box - but the ball went in at the near post and England fans were now becoming very optimistic. Germany almost replied when Ballack put a very good chance wide from close range and Jancker missed with a header.  Owen strikes again to get his hatrick (4-1) After 65 minutes, McManaman replaced Barmby and 1 minute later England were 4-1 up. Gerrard won the ball and put Owen through - with Owen's speed and confidence in front of goal he hit the ball straight past the German goalkeeper as he went to ground and put the ball in the roof of the net.  Heskey gets his goal, holding off the challenge of Rehme (5-1) After 74 minutes, Heskey was put clean through by Scholes and hit the ball hard under the goalkeeper to make it 5-1. By now the German team had as good as given up, England's passing was superb, the England fans were singing loudly and the German fans were already leaving the stadium. The German team could not wait for the final whistle to come. Who played well: All the players on the pitch had a great game - obviously Owen had a great great game with his hat-trick and Gerrard stood out as having a tremendous game too. Germany beat England in football matches all too often and I don't think any England fan really expected their team to end up winning in such a convincing manner. This was the game that gave pride and belief back into England - Sven Goran Eriksson had to calm down his players quickly though - there was an important match at home to Albania in four days time. Click here to see all England's results since Euro 96 ____________________________________________________________________________ Note: This England World Cup 2002 website is also available using http://clik.to/england
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