Germany vs England in pictures
Engand 4-2 West Germany (aet)
This
was the first competitive meeting between the two nations - and it has
yet to be surpassed in terms of importance, drama and controversy.
In
front of a capacity crowd of 96,924 - and with about 400 million more
watching on TV - extra-time was needed with the score at 2-2.
England
took the lead when Geoff Hurst's shot hit the underside of the bar and
was judged to have bounced over the goal-line - but the debate still
rages today whether the goal should have been given.
Hurst went
on to complete his hat-trick and become the first man ever to do so in
a World Cup final - and no other player has matched him since.
It
remains England's only World Cup final appearance, while Germany have
won the trophy three times and been runners-up four times.
West Germany 3-2 England (aet)England went into the tournament confident they could retain their title.
And
after 50 minutes of their quarter-final, England looked to be on course
to progress when Martin Peters added to Alan Mullery's opener and made
it 2-0.
But West Germany pulled a goal back when England keeper
Peter Bonetti - playing in place of Gordon Banks, who had food
poisoning - somehow dived over a Franz Beckenbauer shot and eight
minutes later Uwe Seller equalised to take the game to extra-time.
Some
might say karma intervened then, when Geoff Hurst had a perfectly good
goal ruled out, four years after his controversial goal in the 66 final.
And it was left to legendary West German striker Gerd Muller to volley in the winner to seal a dramatic comeback victory.
First leg: England 1-3 West Germany
Second leg: West Germany 0-0 EnglandWest
Germany were the form team going into the tournament and there was to
be no upsetting the formbook when Bobby Moore's team met Franz
Beckenbauer's side in London.
Francis Lee (far left) cancelled
out Uli Hoeness' opener but England were heading for the worst defeat
at Wembley under Sir Alf Ramsey.
West Germany retook the lead
when Moore conceded a penalty after bringing down Siegfried Held and
keeper Gordon Banks was unable to do more than push Gunter Netzer's
penalty into the post and in.
England's misery - and West
Germany's ecstasy - was complete when Gerd Muller made the second leg
essentially redundant with his side's third goal.
West Germany 1-1 England (aet)
West Germany win 4-3 on penaltiesEngland
remembers Italia 90 largely for a crying Paul Gascoigne, who lost
control when he received a booking that would have ruled him out of the
final, and the pain of penalties.
As is so often the case, the
margin between success and failure proved so small - and it was Chris
Waddle who found himself on the wrong side of the divide.
Waddle
almost won the match when he hit the bar in extra-time but he was,
instead, destined for heartbreak come the penalty shoot-out when he
blazed over to hand West Germany victory, after Stuart Pearce had also
missed his spot-kick.
In normal time, Andreas Brehme opened the
scoring for West Germany with a deflected free-kick and Gary Lineker
equalised with only 10 minutes left.
England 1-1 Germany (aet)
Germany win 6-5 on penalties
"It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming.... football's coming home."
It very nearly did but Germany thwarted England once again.
England
was in the grip of football fever, with an England flag attached to
almost every car and David Baddiel and Frank Skinner topping the music
charts with Three Lions.
Alan Shearer headed England into a
third minute lead but Stefan Kuntz equalised and in extra-time, Paul
Gascoigne was inches away from scoring a golden goal that would have
put England in the final.
But once again, penalties were needed
to separate the sides - and once again the Germans came out on top with
Gareth Southgate the unfortunate Englishman to miss his spot-kick in
sudden death, leaving Andreas Moller to win it with his.
England 1-0 GermanyThis was a game between two ageing teams - as French sports paper L'Equipe put it "a meeting of the dinosaurs".
And it lived up to its billing as the old rivals played out one of the dullest encounters of the tournament.
Alan
Shearer got the only goal of the game and, while the match was never a
classic, England's players exuberantly celebrated the end of "34 years
of hurt".
Realistically, it was a win that did little to make up
for the disappointments of Italia 90 or Euro 96 - and things would get
worse for England before they got better.
England 0-1 Germany
The end of an era.
It
was goodbye Wembley and goodbye Kevin Keegan as Germany came and
spoiled the party in London, in the final match ever to be played at
the old stadium.
Fresh from their first victory over Germany in
34 years just a few months previously, Keegan's side should have been
full of confidence and ready to give Wembley a suitable send-off.
Instead,
a shambolic performance sent boss Keegan packing as he resigned
immediately after the match, saying 'I just haven't been quite good
enough".
And on the day, neither were England, who fell to a
long-range shot from Dietmar Hamann with which David Seaman should
probably have done better.
Germany 1-5 England"No-one would have predicted that result."
Those
are the words of England striker Michael Owen, who was probably still
pinching himself after scoring a hat-trick to help demolish Germany.
Certainly it looked a case of business as usual when Carsten Jancker put Germany ahead after only six minutes.
But
England, now under the guidance of their first foreign manager in
Sven-Goran Eriksson, proceeded to stun everyone - and most likely that
included their Swedish coach and themselves.
However, it was
reward for a stylish performance of heart, skill and clinical
finishing, with Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey joining Owen on the
scoresheet.
