England and Germany -- or, from 1945 to 1990, West Germany -- have one of the most storied rivalries in the history of international soccer. They had first played each other in 1899, although the 1st officially recognized match between the national teams was not until 1930, a draw in Berlin.
In 1935, a German team under Nazi rule came to London, accompanied by 8,000 of their fans, and a Nazi swastika flag flew along with the Union Jack over the venue, White Hart Lane. But there was no dirty play, and England won. In 1938, England went to Berlin, and the Foreign Office told the England players to give the Nazi salute as they lined up for the pregame ceremony. All but one went along with it. England won again. In 1954, a few months after West Germany won the World Cup, England won at Wembley Stadium in London.
In 1966, they faced each other in the World Cup Final at Wembley. Manager Alf Ramsey invoked World Wars I and II to his the players: "If, on the morrow, the Germans beat us on our soil at our national game, we'd do well to remember that, twice this century, we have beaten them on their soil at theirs."
England thought they had the game won, but the Germans scored in the last minute to send the game to extra time. Geoff Hurst scored, and, ever since, everybody who doesn't like England has insisted that the goal hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced out, not going over the line, and shouldn't have been allowed. (I’ve seen that clip many times, and I’m convinced it went in.) Hurst scored again, and England won, 4-2.
West Germany got its revenge in the 1970 World Cup and in Euro 1972, knocking England out in the Quarterfinal each time. The next major meetings came in the 1990 World Cup in Italy and Euro 96 at Wembley. Both times, it was in the Semifinal. Both times, the game went to penalties. Both times, the Germans won and knocked the English out. Both times, the Germans won the Final, too.
England beat Germany in the Group Stage of Euro 2000. Later that year, the last event at the old Wembley Stadium, before it was demolished and replaced, was a 2002 World Cup Qualifier, which Germany won. The next year, England went to Berlin and shocked Germany 5-1. One of the first few events at the new Wembley was a 2007 friendly (exhibition game) between them, which Germany won.
Now, in the Round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup, the old rivals met again. German were good. But this was England's "Golden Generation," which was going to win it all:
* From Liverpool: Midfielder and Captain Steven Gerrard, centreback Jamie Carragher, right back Glen Johnson.
* From Manchester United: Forward Wayne Rooney and midfielder Michael Carrick.
* From Chelsea: Centerback John Terry, left back Ashley Cole, midfielders Frank Lampard and Joe Cole. (No relation: Joe is white, Ashley is black.)
* From Tottenham Hotspur: Centrebacks Ledley King and Michael Dawson, midfielder Aaron Lennon, and forward Peter Crouch (formerly of Liverpool) and Jermain Defoe.
* From Manchester City: Midfielders Gareth Barry and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
* From Aston Villa: Forward Emile Heskey (formerly of Liverpool), centerback Stephen Warnock Upson (ditto), and midfielder James Milner (later of Liverpool).
* From West Ham United: Centerback Matthew Upson and backup goalkeeper Robert Green.
* From Portsmouth: Starting goalkeeper David James (formerly of Liverpool and West Ham).
* And from Birmingham City, backup goalkeeper Joe Hart (later to star for Manchester City).
No players from Arsenal. The only Arsenal player selected was Theo Walcott, but he ended up missing the tournament due to injury. This was a pattern for the World Cup and the European Championships: The Gunners tended to not have their players selected, while the other team in North London, Tottenham, would have multiple players selected, and then England would flop.
Arsenal fans would end up divided: Those from England would say that England would have won had Arsenal players been selected, while those from elsewhere would be glad their players weren't tarred with the brush of failure.
So cocky were England that, upon finding out England's group for the tournament, right-wing national newspaper The Sun called it "EASY: England, Algeria, Slovenia, Yanks" (meaning the U.S.) and "Best English group since The Beatles."
The opener was against the U.S. on June 12, and manager Fabio Capello started Green in goal instead of the aging James. The result was a mishandling of a Clint Dempsey shot by Green that went into the net, resulting in a 1-1 draw. National newspaper the Daily Mirror, remembering England getting knocked out of the 1986 World Cup by a handballed goal that Diego Maradona of Argentina justified as being "by the hand of God," called it "Hand of Clod."
It got worse for England: They could only draw 0-0 with Algeria. They had to beat Slovenia to qualify for the knockout stage. They did, 1-0 -- but the U.S. stunned Algeria with a Landon Donovan goal in stoppage time, allowing them to top the Group via tiebreakers. The U.S. would play Ghana (and lose), while England had to face "Ze Germans" again. (Teams that finished 2nd in their Group each faced a team that had finished 1st in another Group, as Germany had.)
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The shirt colors were the same as in the 1966 World Cup Final: England in red, Germany in white. A good omen? Not really: The Germans had worn white in the 1954 World Cup Final, the 1970 World Cup Quarterfinal (in which England wore red), the German leg of the Euro 72 Quarterfinal (in which England wore red -- in the English leg, England wore white, the Germans green), the 1974 World Cup Final, the 1990 World Cup Final, and the Euro 96 Semifinal (in which England wore gray), and won them all. (Then again, the Germans also wore white in the 1982 World Cup Final, and lost.)
England started James in goal; Johnson, Upson, Terry and Ashley Cole at the back; Milner, Lampard, Barry and Gerrard in midfield; and Defoe and Rooney up top. It didn't work: Miroslav Klose scored for Germany in the 20th minute, and Lukas Podolski made it 2-0 in the 32nd.
Upson scored in the 37th, to close it to within 2-1. Then in the 39th minute, Lampard blasted a shot past Manuel Neuer that seemed to tie it, and sent the England fans into a frenzy.
But the referee, Jorge Larrionda, waved it off. (He is a native of Uruguay, in South Africa, and World Cup rules state that a referee cannot be from the same continent as either of the teams.) It was the exact same reasoning that non-England fans say the 1966 extra-time goal should have been waved off: It hit the underside of the crossbar, and bounced out without going in.
Larrionda in blue, Lampard in red
Some have called this 2010 "ghost goal" Germany's revenge for the goal that should have been ruled out in the 1966 Final between England and West Germany.
The instant replay made it obvious: The ball was well over the line.
This photograph makes it obvious, too.
To this day, English fans swear that if the goal had been counted, England would have won the game, and would have gone on to win the World Cup. "After all, we invented the game, mate!" (Yeah, I'm a Rutgers fan. Rutgers played and won the 1st college football game in America, but that doesn't mean anything now.)
At any rate, Thomas Müller scored in the 67th and the 70th, and Germany won, 4-1. The English were outraged.
Germany went on to beat Argentina in the Quarterfinal, but lost the Semifinal to Spain, who beat the Netherlands to win the Cup.
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Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Jorge Larrionda for England Losing the 2010 World Cup
5. The Game Would Only Have Been Tied. There were 51 minutes left to play, plus stoppage time in each half. So, probably 56 minutes, in which England would have had to be a net 1-0 over Germany.
4. The Germans Were Better. Had the goal counted, instead of winning 4-1, Germany would have won 4-2. Any Englishman who says England would have won if Lampard's goal had counted is deluded.
Thomas Müller, scorer of Germany's last 2 goals in the game
Manuel Neuer. Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger. Mesut Özil. Lukas Podolski. Miroslav Klose. Thomas Müller. Philipp Lahm. Per Mertesacker. Toni Kroos. Jérôme Boateng. 11 of the 23 players on this team were back 4 years later, helping Germany win the World Cup, shellacking Brazil 7-1 in their national stadium in the Semifinal, and then beating Argentina in extra time of the Final.
Speaking of whom...
3. Argentina. Had England reached the Quarterfinal, they would have faced an Argentine team coached by old foe Diego Maradona, and including some of the world's top players: Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano, Ángel Di María, Juan Sebastián Verón, Carlos Tevez, Sergio Agüero, Gonzalo Higuaín, Gabriel Heinze, Nicolás Otamendi, Diego Milito, Javier Pastore.
Yes, Germany wiped Argentina out, 4-0. And, yes, in a fantasy sequence, an England that beat Germany should have beaten Argentina. But it doesn't necessarily work that way.
And Argentina were already in England's heads, having knocked them out of the World Cup in 1986 on Maradona's "Hand of God," and again in 1998 on penalties. England were not going to beat Argentina.
And even if they had...
2. Spain. Had England reached the Semifinal, they would have faced a Spanish team that was incredibly dirty, loaded as they were with players from 2 of the cheatingest teams in world sport, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
They would have dove for penalties, and launched tackles on England that would have gotten their players sent off in England's Premier League, but, without English referees to protect them, play might simply have been waved on.
1. England Weren't Good Enough. They blew a lead against America. They couldn't beat Algeria. They barely beat Slovenia. The only finished 2nd in a Group in which they were the only team that had ever even reached the Semifinal (with the exception of the U.S. getting that far in the very 1st World Cup, in 1930).
Here's England's tournament record, since their 1966 triumph:
* Euro 68: Semifinals.
* 1970 World Cup: Quarterfinals, lost -- to West Germany.
* Euro 72: Quarterfinals, lost -- to West Germany.
* 1974 World Cup: Failed to qualify.
* Euro 76: Failed to qualify.
* 1978 World Cup: Failed to to qualify.
* Euro 80: Failed to qualify from the Group Stage -- 1 of the last 8 teams, so, effectively, the Quarterfinals.
* 1982 World Cup: Lost in the 2nd Group stage, making them 1 of the last 12 teams.
* Euro 84: Failed to qualify.
* 1986 World Cup: Quarterfinals.
* Euro 88: Finished last in their Group.
* 1990 World Cup: Semifinals, lost on penalties -- to Germany.
* Euro 92: Finished last in their Group.
* 1994 World Cup: Failed to qualify.
* Euro 96: Semifinals, lost on penalties -- to Germany.
* 1998 World Cup: Round of 16.
* Euro 2000: Eliminated in the Group Stage.
* 2002 World Cup: Quarterfinals. This is when that "Golden Generation" started to come in.
* Euro 2004: Quarterfinals, lost on penalties.
* 2006 World Cup: Quarterfinals, lost on penalties.
* Euro 2008: Failed to qualify.
* 2010 World Cup: Round of 16.
* Euro 2012: Quarterfinals, lost on penalties.
* 2014 World Cup: Finished last in their Group.
* Euro 2016: Round of 16 -- losing to Iceland.
* 2018 World Cup: Semifinals. By now, the "Golden Generation" had retired from international competition. Funny how England got further without them than they ever got with them.
The World Cup has been played 21 times, and England have won it exactly once, and then dubiously, at home. They've only been to that 1 Final. There were 3 times that they didn't qualify, and 3 other times they chose not to enter at all.
The European Championships have been played 15 times, and England have never even made the Final.
70 years, going back to the 1st international tournament they entered, the 1950 World Cup (where they lost to the U.S.). 33 major tournaments. 1 Final.
That's the history. Except for one brief shining moment, it's kind of sad.
England's 1966 World Cup win is their version of America landing on the Moon, except we did it 6 times, from 1969 to 1972. Americans like to say, "If we can put a man on the Moon, why can't we (do something that seems comparatively simple)?" The English don't say, "If we can win the World Cup, why can't we... ?" Maybe they should.
Or, maybe not. After all, at this point, neither America nor England -- or the United Kingdom -- can put a man on the Moon, and neither nation can win the World Cup.
So shut yer bloody pieholes.
VERDICT: Not Guilty. Was Larrionda wrong? Yes. Was that the reason, or even the biggest reason, England didn't win the 2010 World Cup? No.
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