A WORLD CUP would not be a World Cup without a moment of controversy involving England, but despite the Uruguayan match officials inexplicably failing to spot that Frank Lampard’s shot had crossed the line by the best part of a metre, nobody at the Free State Stadium was kidding themselves about the authenticity of the outcome on this occasion.
Fabio Capello’s side were thoroughly outplayed by an excellent Germany team that passed and counterattacked with such speed and precision that they made England’s ragged defenders look like amateurs.
England’s biggest loss at a World Cup was nothing if not merited. Yes, two goals should have been credited to them, yet how many times did Thomas Müller, Miroslav Klose and the outstanding Mesut Ozil frighten the life out of John Terry and friends? But for a series of fine David James saves, Germany would have made the scoreline more embarrassing still.
Nevertheless, at half-time, with Joachim Low’s charges somehow only 2-1 up and Lampard’s shot still fresh in the memory, England’s fans were angry and feeling victimised again. Those mingling in the concourse cursed under their breath and gestured to nearby Germans with their hands a couple of feet apart to indicate just how far the ball had crossed the line.
The words “1966” and “Wembley” were surely on the tips of German tongues but most of them settled for a sympathetic shrug. The three-time world champions barely need revenge for 1966, given everything that has happened since, although the irony of yesterday’s incident was lost on nobody in their camp. “In 1966, the ball [from Geoff Hurst’s shot] definitely hadn’t crossed the line, but they got the goal,” defender Arne Friedrich told German reporters. “Sometimes you need to be a bit lucky.”
Germany hardly needed luck this time. By the end of the 90 minutes, the phantom goal no longer seemed to matter.
The hardest part for some was that the capitulation was so unexpected. This was billed as the last chance for “the golden generation”. But nobody was as shocked as the German reporter sitting next to me when Capello sent on Emile Heskey. “Heskey? But he’s like a dinosaur.”
He had a point. There was one potential golden generation on the pitch, but it was most definitely playing in white.