22 August 2007 England v Germany (friendly) kick off 8pmI had a nice surprise last week when John came home from work and dropped an envelope into my lap containing two tickets to see this game. The previous day he said to me that his boss's son had tickets to sell as he couldn't go and that one of the other managers there would probably get them. I screamed 'why the hell didn't you get in there first?!' I wished, at that point, that he hadn't told me. Anyway, it turned out that the other guy couldn't get a babysitter so the tickets were ours! Ah-ha!
Everyone knows how much I love my footie (to the point of it taking over my life) but this wasn't so much about England winning but more of a chance to experience the new Wembley. I wouldn't be surprised if this is why the majority of people went actually, because I couldn't really see the point of this friendly.
Anyway, we left by car at 4:30 as we (I) didn't want it to be a rush when we got there. I wanted to take it all in and have a look around. We are lucky we can drive there as John's firm has a depot right next to the arena which he can park in. However, he told me yesterday that it looks like Wembley will be taking that area over in about a year's time to convert the space into a car park. Damn!
It was only just after 6pm but there were hoards of people already making their way up to the stadium. The mood was good with people wearing Jerry helmets and other silly hats and flags (like myself). Well you have to get into the spirit don't you? We took some pics on the approach and also of the Bobby Moore statue before heading into the stadium. The weather hadn't been kind to us, it was windy, gloomy and drizzly - a typical summer day in fact!! We hung around the inside area and had a drink and then made our way to our seats at 7:30, half an hour before kick off. WOW! It was an incredible sight. It must be up there with the best stadiums in the world...well I suppose it should be - it took seven long years to build! Snap snap snap went the camera.
And so the teams emerged from the tunnel and the meet and greets took place. Despite announcements that they do not abide by booing national anthems, booing still echoed around when Germany's was sung. I do not agree with that - very disrespectful whoever the country may be.
England line-up: Robinson, Shorey, Ferdinand, Terry (capt), Richards, Beckham, Lampard, Cole, Carrick, Owen, Smith
Subs: James, Brown, Downing, Dyer, Defoe, Crouch, Wright-Phillips, Barry
On to the game then. Despite England getting off to a positive start with Frank Lampard scoring in the 9th minute, the match was pretty dire really. Typical of what we have seen of England since Steve McLaren took over. We just don't play with enough pace. Every player barring Beckham plays in the Premiership which is said to be the fastest league in the world, yet we always seem to play in slow motion! It took 20 minutes for Germany to muster up a chance and they looked like a very average side. I remember once upon a time when I knew pretty much all the names of the German team, but now, Jens Lehmann, the twat who plays for Arsenal in goal, was the only name I recognised. After 26 minutes, Germany crossed the ball which Robinson should have comfortably caught or even tipped over the bar but instead it was just pawed down into the path of Kuranyi who easily scored from a couple of yards out. Oh dear. As a Spurs fan, this is cringeworthy and my head fell into into my hands. As much as I adore the guy, surely he will no longer be England's number one after this. Even Spurs fans are questioning his ability as he didn't have a good last season and his confidence seems to have just evapourated. Things got worse in the 43rd minute when Germany scored again, this time a long range effort which wasn't closed down by our defence and the ball screamed into the top right corner, which I can't see any goalkeeper in the world saving. Michael Own really should have scored England's second but he couldn't angle it into the net from close range (see pic below).
The second half saw several substitutions with Dyer, Crouch, Brown, James, Wright-Phillips and Barry coming on. However, it didn't make any difference to the performance which was even worse than the first half. They had a few half chances but it just wasn't to be and you have to say that thank God this was a friendly. If we play like that against Israel and Russia in the forthcoming Euro qualifiers, we simply won't qualify. Unthinkable for a nation of such footballing tradition!
Although the game was poor, England lost to our greatest rivals and the weather was crap, I still enjoyed the night. I have to add that despite being over 86,000 fans in the stadium, the atmosphere wasn't as good as I had expected. Not a patch on White Hart Lane! But then the passion for your club team is always 100 times greater than it is for your national team.
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